The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the city police to provide protection to social activist Swami Agnivesh, who had registered two police complaints against members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for allegedly attacking him here and in Pakur district of Jharkhand.
Justice Najmi Wajiri sought the response of the Centre, the Delhi government and the Delhi Police on Mr. Agnivesh’s plea seeking transfer of the case from the police to the CBI or any other Central independent investigating agency. The High Court set February 27 as the date of hearing.
Mr. Agnivesh had in his plea claimed that the State government and the police were not conducting a proper investigation in accordance with the law, “evidencing that they are either not serious about bringing the perpetrators of these heinous criminal acts to book or are deliberately trying to save and shield them”.
“The BJP, being the ruling party in the Centre, has totally subverted the process of law in collusion with the State government and the police, thereby ruling out the possibility of any free and fair investigation in the case,” the plea, filed through advocate Mehmood Pracha, alleged.
The plea said that he was attacked at two places thousand of miles away from each other clearly indicated the threat to his life all over the country, and thus he required round-the-clock police protection in order to ensure safety of his life and property.
On July 17, the activist was on his way to Litipara in Pakur district to participate in an event organised by the Pahariya tribal community when he was attacked allegedly by some BJP youth wing supporters. A month later, he was allegedly heckled and assaulted near the BJP headquarters in Delhi while on his way to pay homage to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He had alleged that the attackers were BJP workers.
The Supreme Court had earlier refused to order a CBI probe into the matter, saying the State police was already investigating the matter.