The Delhi High Court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing in a petition filed seeking directions to investigate the incident relating to insult to the national flag during the farmers’ tractor rally on Republic Day and ease problems faced by citizens due to the farmer protests.
A bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh adjourned the matter to February 4 due to connectivity issues from the petitioners’ side during the virtual hearing on Tuesday.
The petitioner through PIL has sought directions to take action against the perpetrators of violence which marred the Republic Day celebrations and left one farmer dead and many police personnel injured. The events which unfurled create a sense of panic and hysteria in the capital.
Farmers had been protesting against the implementation of new farm laws, in furtherance of the same, they had taken out the tractor rally which turned violent and led to such large scale vandalism and hooliganism in the streets of Delhi. The high point of the violence was the blatant disrespect shown towards the national flag by the protesters and the way the national symbol was hijacked, said the petition.
The petitioner further said his only grievance is that the perpetrators, who have wronged the protests and shown disrespect to the national flag, be brought to justice and in future there is a deterrent when someone thinks of doing some thing similar.
The petitioner said the Farmers’ Tractor Rally was held as a parallel rally to the Republic Day Parade. The rally turned violent after being denied to cross barricades at ITO from venturing into a route which was not agreed upon. The protesters created a law and order situation and broke into the Red Fort where one of the protesters hoisted the Nishan Sahib at Red Fort. The violence left one farmer dead and clashes went on till late evening.
The petition alleged that according to the different incidents that took place on Republic Day and the videos presented by the media show the different ways in which the national flag has been disrespected by the errant protesters. In one incident, a tractor which had the national flag on its bonnet is shown hitting a bus while the national flag is on it. In another, one can see protesters using the national flag to beat/scare away policemen by using it as a weapon. In the third video, the Nishan Sahib is shown to be hoisted alongside the national Flag and while the Nishan Sahib is being hoisted, one of the protesters gives the man hoisting the flags the national flag and he throws it on the ground.
It has been urged by the petitioner that in such a scenario, the police officials need to verify the credentials of the miscreants to rule out national security risks and need to fast track the investigation. Another thing which prompted one of the protesters to do the shameful act was an offer of a reward of USD 250,000 for hoisting a flag at the Red Fort which can only tantamount to causing unrest in the country and disturbing public order. Such miscreants should be booked under the sedition laws.
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The petitioner has prayed to bring on record all those perpetrators, who have shown flagrant and contemptuous disrespect to Indian national flag, so that a strong sense of deterrence prevails whenever in the coming future one has to think about disrespecting the national flag and other emblems of India.