Delhi Police have registered FIRs over the INDIA bloc’s October 12 march towards the Supreme Court, adding a police case to a campaign that has already moved from the street to the courtroom.
The march was stopped on Bhagwan Dass Marg, and the leaders later filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the special intensive revision of electoral rolls. The court registry has flagged 14 defects in that petition, which must be fixed before it can proceed.
The FIRs add a third front, and the facts are not yet settled. Reports give two or four cases, and only one report says Rahul Gandhi is named.
The BJP has called the march theatrics, while Congress says the fight will continue. What the FIRs allege, and the sections invoked, will matter more than the political statements.
The Statesman adds that the FIRs also cover graffiti on roads in central Delhi.
The Tribune says the Tilak Marg FIR relates to protesters who entered the Supreme Court premises and reportedly names INDIA bloc leaders, including Rahul Gandhi.
Business Today’s headline says the FIRs were registered against Rahul Gandhi, but its article does not say who is named, and NewsDrum says the identities of those named were not immediately available. Whether Rahul Gandhi is named is therefore unconfirmed.
The legal sections invoked were not specified in The Tribune and Business Today reports.
Police had imposed restrictions under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita in the area, according to NewsDrum.
Thousands of INDIA bloc supporters marched from Connaught Place under heavy security, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, according to The Tribune.
A bus carrying Rahul Gandhi and other leaders halted at Mandi House, where Gandhi and others climbed onto its roof, according to the same report.
Police stopped the march at a barricade on Bhagwan Dass Marg, more than a kilometre from the Supreme Court, according to PTI reports.
Barakhamba Road, New Delhi (file image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0