New Delhi, 23 July—Rattled by the scale and intensity of ongoing Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) led youth protests in the national capital during the last few days, Delhi Lt Governor Taranjit Sandhu, at the advice of the Union Home Ministry, today extended the Delhi Police’s power of preventive detention under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) till October 18.
The Modi government is preparing for the worst as it on the one hand extended an offer of dialogue to the CJP and on the other it is empowering the Delhi Police to detain anyone under NSA for a year without producing the accused in the court of law.
According to the notification issued on July 15 by the Delhi government’s Home Department, the City Police Commissioner has been granted the power of detention under Sub Section (2) of Section 3 of the NSA.
The power will be valid up to October 18, it said.
The Delhi Police said this is a “routine extension” of the power and it has been “interpreted out of context” in certain media reports that are claiming that the power has been granted to quell the CJP-led protest.
The NSA empowers the Centre and states to detain individuals to prevent them from acting in a manner “prejudicial to the defence of India”. The detention period under the NSA ranges from three to 12 months.
Because it is preventive detention and not arrest, there is no legal obligation to present the detainee before a court of law.
A Delhi government officer said the power of detention under the NSA is extended routinely after every quarter and no specific request was made in the present context. This power has been delegated since the 1980s, he said.
The CJP began its protest at Jantar Mantar on June 20.
The Opposition was quick to cite it as more evidence of the Narendra Modi government cracking down on dissent.
“The Prime Minister is saying one thing, but today his government empowered the Delhi Police commissioner under the National Security Act to detain people for up to 12 months. Is the protest at Jantar Mantar a threat to national security?” AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi said.
“Nearly half the country’s population is under 25. These young people, whose futures have been ruined, are protesting for their rights. But the Modi government calls them a threat to national security and wants the NSA invoked against them.
“On one hand, the government talks about a special court; on the other, it seeks to detain protesters for up to 12 months under the NSA without disclosing the grounds. How is this protest a threat to national security? The government has completely mismanaged the situation, and the responsibility lies with it,” he added.
The Union home ministry had on June 17 abruptly removed Delhi police commissioner Satish Golcha and shunted him to the Delhi lieutenant governor’s office. The new commissioner, Anurag Kumar, oversaw the Delhi Police’s first major action within 24 hours of taking charge when cops stormed the protest at Jantar Mantar and took away Sonam Wangchuk by force.
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