HC directs Delhi Police chief to look into CM house vandalism case

New Delhi, April 25 (IANS) Observing there was a serious lapse of security in the vandalism incident that happened outside Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's house, the Delhi High Court on Monday directed the city Police Commissioner to look into the matter.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla noted that the interim status report filed by the Delhi Police shows that the police force failed to prevent miscreants from reaching the residence of the Chief Minister and vandalising the area.

"In our view, the security lapse is serious and should be looked at by the Commissioner of Delhi Police and he should inquire into three aspects, whether bandobast was adequate, reasons for the failure of arrangements, fix responsibility for the admitted lapse," it said.

Accordingly, the court asked the police to file a further status report within two weeks, disclosing aspects with regard to the review of security arrangements and what further steps have been taken, so that such incidents don't recur in the future.

The bench said the status report was to be filed in a sealed cover, as it posted the matter for further hearing on May 17.

AAP lawmaker Saurabh Bhardwaj had moved the High Court seeking the constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to undertake an independent criminal probe into the incident which took place outside CM Kejriwal's house.

Around 70 people were detained for creating ruckus outside Kejriwal's residence during a protest that was spearheaded by the Bharatiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha over his remarks in the Delhi Assembly on 'The Kashmir Files' movie that were deemed as "against the Kashmiri Pandit community" among the saffron clan.