The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the city police to submit a status report regarding the action taken against Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) candidates who had indulged in defacement of public property in the run-up to this year’s election.
A Bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V.K. Rao also directed Delhi University (DU) and the civic bodies to submit reports highlighting the extent of defacement during the DUSU election and the steps that were taken to prevent it.
The HC order came on a plea by advocate Prashant Manchanda, who has sought a ban on defacement of public property during the DUSU polls.
Earlier, the HC had said that defacement of public property was a serious offence, punishable with up to 10 years in jail.
The Delhi police, in its status report, said that 798 cases were registered under the Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property Act between June 1, 2017, and June 30 this year. Mr. Manchanda, however, said that the status report does not cover littering and defacement done before this year’s DUSU election.
In his own report submitted before the court, Mr. Manchanda said that this year, candidates “resorted to alternative means of defacement through placement of illegal hoardings and banners”.
Plea names 6 candidates
Mr. Manchanda submitted names of six candidates who indulged in defacing public property: Sunny Tanwar (CYSS), Saurabh Yadav (NSUI), Jagat Singh (ABVP), Ankit Singh (NSUI), Sunny Chillar (NSUI) and Shakti Singh (ABVP).
“The areas in and around campuses of colleges are littered with pamphlets, which are unabashedly strewn on the ground creating an unclean and unhygienic environment. Wastage of paper too must be stopped,” the advocate’s report read.
The HC also directed DU, the civic agencies and the Delhi Metro to give wide publicity to the anti-defacement guidelines — which were formulated by the stakeholders and approved by the court on May 29 — and upload them on their respective websites.
In his petition, Mr. Manchanda had contended that it was next to impossible to completely remove the defacement done during the DUSU election campaign.
“Significantly, it has been found that compared to earlier elections, this year, metro sites predominantly remained free from defacement through spray paint and inks, etc.” he said in his report, adding that the North Campus area also remained free from “extensive defacement with almost negligible use of spray paint and inks”.