New Delhi: A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been moved in the Delhi High Court seeking release of all persons, including but not limited to farmers who have been ‘illegally detained’ on or after January 26, in and around Singhu Border, Tikri Border and Ghazipur border during the tractor rally protests on Republic Day, 2021.
The petitioner, a law student who filed the plea through counsels Ashima Mandla and Mandakini Singh, submitted that the arrests were violative of Articles 14, 21, 22 of the Constitution.
According to the plea, as many as 200 persons are missing after January 26, following the farmers’ tractor rally which turned violent in the National Capital.
“During the detention, the Delhi Police failed to comply with procedural formalities like signing of the arrest memo, informing the next of kin within a period of 8-12 hours, and production of the persons before the Magistrate u/s 167 CrPC,” the petition alleged, adding this falls within the contours of ‘illegal detention’.
The petitioner has also given 15 names of persons who have been missing and detained after the incidents on January 26. However, there is no legally tenable reason to support such detention, the plea contended, praying the constitutional safeguard can be invoked to enforce the Right of Personal Liberty.
R-Day violence: Plea in Delhi HC seeks release of all protestors ‘detained illegally’
