NEW DELHI: Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Friday questioned the delay in registering an FIR in the Sahil Lochav pellet gun case, alleging that “brakes on justice” were being applied from the top.
“This is the first step towards justice. The case has been registered. It has been a month since he was hit by that bullet. Pellets are still lodged in his body; three are in his eye, and he cannot see out of it. Three or four are near his heart. A grave injustice has been done to this young man,” Gandhi said after the FIR was registered.
Gandhi said he and his supporters had reached the Parliament Street Police Station at around 11 am or 11.30 am and remained there until the FIR was registered nearly eight hours later.
“We arrived here at 11:00 or 11:30 this morning. We have been here all this time. It is now nearly a quarter to seven, and only now has the FIR been filed,” he said.
Questioning the delay, Gandhi said the incident raised concerns about access to justice, particularly for ordinary citizens.
“Just imagine: in this country, so many women are raped, so many children are killed, so many people are shot, and so many carry pellets in their bodies. This police station is right in the heart of Delhi, yet justice is not being served here. Imagine what must happen at a police station in a village or a small town,” Rahul Gandhi said.
He alleged that senior authorities were responsible for the delay in registering the case.
“The final approval, the ultimate ‘okay’, had to come from the Home Secretary and Amit Shah , himself. Only then was the FIR finally issued. So, you can understand who was holding up the FIR. These police officers wanted to register it; the others wanted to do it too, but the brakes on justice were being applied from the top,” Rahul Gandhi said.
The Delhi Police on Friday registered an FIR concerning the alleged use of pellet guns during the July 20 protests in the national capital. The case has been registered under Sections 118 and 125 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), dealing with voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means and acts endangering life or personal safety.
Rahul Gandhi had staged a sit-in outside the Parliament Street Police Station along with Lochav, demanding registration of the FIR.
“Pellet gun was used at Connaught Place on 20th July. AIIMS report clearly says that there are more than 200 shells inside his body and 3 in his eye. He has lost vision in that eye. There are shells near his heart that cannot be touched,” Gandhi had said.
Lochav also addressed mediapersons at the police station and said he had approached Delhi Police with a seven-page complaint on August 14.
“On 20th July, pellet guns were fired at me. I was admitted to Lady Hardinge, from there, I was referred to AIIMS. I underwent surgery at AIIMS. But the vision in my eye is still not clear,” he said.
Meanwhile, Union Health Minister JP Nadda criticised Gandhi’s protest, accusing him of indulging in “cheap, attention-seeking politics” and “camera-centric drama”.
“The whole country knows that the Supreme Court has already taken cognisance of the July 20th incident and has constituted a five-member high-powered committee headed by a former judge,” Nadda said.
He questioned Rahul Gandhi’s decision to protest outside the police station while the Supreme Court-appointed committee is examining the matter.
“The truth is that Rahul Gandhi is staging this ‘camera-centric’ drama merely to keep himself in the headlines,” Nadda alleged.
The Supreme Court on Thursday constituted a five-member High-Powered Expert Committee headed by retired Justice R Subhash Reddy to conduct a fact-finding exercise into allegations of police excesses and violence during the protests.
The panel includes former Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Ravi Shankar Jha, former Delhi High Court Justice Shalinder Kaur, former CBI Director Rishi Kumar Shukla and former Meghalaya DGP LR Bishnoi.
The apex court said the committee would examine allegations of excessive use of force by police, violence by protesters and allegations of harassment and molestation of women protesters.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the party’s demand had been limited to registration of an FIR and said Gandhi was supporting Lochav’s constitutional right to seek justice.
