A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking either constitution of a special investigating team (SIT) headed by a retired apex court judge or a direction to the CBI to probe the July 13 incident at Patna in which a BJP leader died while taking part in a march against the Nitish Kumar government.
Vijay Singh, a party leader from Jehanabad district, had died while taking part in a "Vidhan Sabha march".
While the party leaders claimed that he had died in a brutal lathicharge by the police, the district administration in Patna had come out with a brief statement asserting that "no injury marks" were found on his body.
The "Vidhan Sabha march", which was organised in support of agitations against the state government’s teacher recruitment policy, had commenced from Patna's Gandhi Maidan and was stopped a couple of kilometres away from the assembly premises.
The plea filed in the apex court by Bihar resident Bhupesh Narayan has also sought to investigate the role played by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and other officials, including Bihar's Director General of Police, in allegedly "protecting the real perpetrators of the incident dated July 13 during peaceful procession organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party".
"The police is under a constitutional obligation to uphold the rule of law and maintain law and order," said the plea, drawn by advocate Barun Kumar Sinha, adding, "In a democratic country, peaceful procession or march or demonstration against the government policy is a well-recognised method of protest."
It said the misuse of power against Indian citizens is a grave breach of fundamental rights and threat to public safety.
The plea claimed that in a pre-planned manner, the members of the procession were suddenly surrounded by police and lathicharge, water cannon and tear gas shell were used which resulted in a chaotic situation.
It alleged that "police brutality and atrocity" resulted in the death of Singh.
Published 16 July 2023, 09:29 IST