The Supreme Court on Friday pulled up both lawyers and police personnel over the violent Tis Hazari clashes, saying that “nobody claps with one hand”.
At least 20 police personnel and several lawyers were injured and many vehicles were damaged in the November 2 incident, which escalated after an argument over parking. The lawyers alleged that the police fired at them.
“Nobody claps with one hand. Problems are from both sides. We don’t want to say more,” observed a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and KM Joseph.
“We are silent for a reason. Nobody can say we acted in a certain way since they did that,” it added.
The Supreme Court also disagreed with lawyers’ complaints of police atrocities.
“They want to paint us as villains…one advocate was dragged by 14 police officers. It is all captured on CCTV footage,” Mohit Mathur, who represented the Bar Council of India was quoted as saying by NDTV.
A day after the scuffle at Tis Hazari court complex, the lawyers had told the Delhi High Court that they had been targeted by the police.
However, CCTV footages have surfaced showing the aggressive side of the lawyers who were seen attacking police personnel even lady officers.
In a video, DCP North Monika Bhardwaj was seen pleading before the agitated lawyers to stop violence after the scuffle at Tis Hazari.
In one of the many videos that surfaced following the incident, lawyers are seen purportedly harassing Bhardwaj, who is flanked by other police personnel and trying to control a group of lawyers, news agency PTI reported on Thursday.
According to the report, the lady cop was seen running, with some lawyers trying to catch hold of her, while some of her male colleagues trying to shield her.
In yet another video, lawyers were seen barging inside the administrative area of the court and assaulting policemen.
There were also reports of advocates attacking policemen on bike at Saket court.
The SIT is examining the CCTV camera footages as part of the FIR registered following the violence.
Meanwhile, three senior Delhi Police officers, including two IPS officers, were transferred on Thursday, as ordered by the Delhi High Court, during the “pendency of the judicial enquiry” into the clashes between lawyers and police at the Tis Hazari court.