‘Many protesters held when they went to police stations to inquire about those who went missing on R-Day’

Punjab Human Rights Organisation chief Justice Ajit Singh Bains (retd) has written to the Delhi Police Commissioner urging the police to preserve CCTV footage of all police stations in Delhi from January 26 to 30.

The letter contends that many protesters were arrested when they went to police stations to inquire about their friends and relatives who were missing after the tractor parade held on Republic Day in Delhi, as per a report carried by The Indian Express.

The letter said, “Due to pressure and to cover up their incompetency and failure to enforce the law, Delhi Police has taken hundreds of persons/farmers into custody from various parts of Delhi and taken them to police stations. Even during press conference on January 27, you admitted that Delhi Police arrested 19 persons and detained 50 others which proves that it was in your knowledge that some persons are in illegal custody of Delhi Police and it was further briefed through the press that 25 criminal cases were registered regarding the incidents/violence.”

“It was further reported that some farmer agitators and their associates were taken into custody by the Delhi Police along with their vehicles

when they were roaming on the roads of Delhi in the evening of 26th January and later on shown as arrested in criminal cases….The scientific evidence in this regard is CCTV footages of the Cameras installed at various police stations as mentioned above and even it will be the best evidence for Delhi Police during the trials of these cases. It is therefore requested that concerned officials and SHOs/Investigation Officers of all the criminal cases/FIRs registered by the Delhi Police regarding the Republic Day incidents / violence be directed to preserve the CCTV footages of dated January 26 to 30,” it added, as per the report.