Plea Against Police-Chosen SSPs to Probe Riot Cases: HC Seeks LG’s Reply

The cases pertain to the violence that ensued on Republic Day, 2021, as well as to the Northeast Delhi riots.

Police fires teargas shells as farmers attempt to march towards Delhi during the ‘Kisan Gantantra Parade’. Image used for representation purpose.

(PTI Photo)

The Delhi High Court, on Friday, 27 August, asked the Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG), and the Centre, to respond to the Kejriwal government’s plea challenging the decision to allow the police’s choice of lawyers as Special Public Prosecutors (SSP) in a slew of cases.

These cases pertain to the violence that ensued on Republic Day, 2021, as well as to the Northeast Delhi riots.

According to PTI, a bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh issued notice to the LG and listed the matter for further hearing on 21 October.

The Delhi Government, which is being represented by senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Rahul Mehra, pointed out that there is a serious conflict of interest as the SSPs have been chosen by the Delhi Police themselves.

"SPPs appointed by us are independent persons. You can't have SPPs which are part of the investigating arm, that is, Delhi Police.”

Abhishek Manu Singhvi

The Delhi government has, as per The Indian Express, stated before the court that it had rejected the Delhi Police’s request to appoint its chosen advocates as SPPs on the ground that the ‘prosecutor’ must be independent of the ‘investigator’ in order to ensure a constitutionally guaranteed fair trial.

(With inputs from PTI and The Indian Express.)