Delhi High Court (File)The Delhi High Court issued a showcause notice to the Commissioner of Police, asking him why contempt proceedings may not be initiated against him for failing to join proceedings in a case heard on Monday. He has been asked to file an affidavit in three days and remain present through video conferencing before the court on November 6.
“It seems that Commissioner of Police, Delhi, feels himself above the law and has no respect to the court,” Justice Suresh Kumar Kait said in an order.
During the hearing of the case on Monday, as per the order, the court had earlier orally directed the Assistant Public Prosecutor to ask the CP join the proceedings to allow him see how police officers were responding to directions passed by the court. What triggered the oral direction seeking the CP’s presence through video conferencing was an investigating officer’s failure to join the proceedings in a bail matter despite the APP’s repeated calls.
The court, while hearing another bail plea in September, had noted that IOs from police stations were unable to provide required assistance to the court due to poor audio and video connectivity at police stations. The court had then ordered the CP to make proper arrangements in each district.
Police, in response, had submitted that a video conferencing room has been created in every district for IOs to attend video conferencing hearings but the same is subject to signal strength and bandwidth. It had also sought time to file a status report with regard to adopting BharatNet project for police stations. BharatNet project is being implemented by the Centre to provide high speed broadband connectivity to government institutions.