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The Supreme Court on Monday termed as an "eyewash" the explanation given in the affidavits filed by Delhi Police and Uttar Pradesh government in connection with the police brutality on a young girl and a woman protesting the rape of minors in the national capital and in Aligarh.
"There is always an eyewash,", a bench headed by justice G S Singhvi said after perusing the affidavits filed by the Delhi Police on behalf of Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar and the U P Chief Secretary.
The bench, also comprising justices Ranjana Prakash Desai and Sharad Arvind Bobde, referred to several incidents of protest including the lynching of a rape accused in Nagpur in 2010 by a mob, saying the police inaction leads to such types of agitations.
"You are promoting vigilantism," was how the bench described the incidents of people taking to the street in protest against rape of minors.
The bench said "next time this type of incidents happen, the highest official will bear the brunt".
While the apex court had sought an explanation from Delhi Police for a senior police officer slapping a girl protesting the rape of a minor, the UP Chief Secretary was directed to explain why a 65-year-old woman was assaulted by the police in Aligarh during a protest against the rape and murder of a six-year-old girl.
The bench was not satisfied with their affidavits in which it was stated that Delhi Police had already taken action by suspending ACP Bani Singh Ahlawat who slapped the girl and that the old woman, pushed by a police officer in Aligarh, was holding stones in her hand.
"After such type of incidents, suspension takes place and after two-three months, the errant officials are reinstated," the bench said while hearing the submissions and going through the Delhi Police affidavit.