Thousands of police personnel on Tuesday, 5 November, called off an 11-hour protest staged at the Police Headquarters in Delhi following multiple appeals, including from their chief.
The protests were triggered by the two attacks on their colleagues, one on Monday outside Saket District Court and another on Saturday at the Tis Hazari Courts Complex after a parking dispute between an on-duty policeman and a lawyer which led to at least 20 security personnel and several advocates being injured.
One of the policemen who was protesting told The Quint that they had “no option” but to put their demands before senior officers.
“Police personnel are continuously being beaten by lawyers. Yesterday, a cop's pistol was allegedly snatched at Saket court. We had tried before, but top officials did not listen to our demands,” he said.
He further said that the personnel demand that the suspended police officials should be reinstated and the registration of accused lawyers be cancelled.
Another official told The Quint that they have “lost faith in the law.”
“When police does not feel safe inside a court, how can we present an arrested person within 24 hours. If because of something the criminal runs away, police personnel will be affected. We have lost faith in the law, we wanted to make our kids lawyers, but now we do not feel like.”Delhi Police personnel
“If we cannot protect ourselves, how will we protect the people of Delhi? We cannot walk in Khaki with our heads held high. We feel ashamed,” one of the many protesting police personnel told The Quint.
Addressing the protesters, Special Commissioner of Police (Crime) Satish Golcha had earlier urged the protesters to end their stir and resume duty, while assuring them that a review petition will be filed against the Delhi High Court order in connection with a clash between cops and lawyers at the Tis Hazari Courts Complex.
Golcha said that the injured policemen will get an ex-gratia of at least Rs 25,000.
The protesting Delhi Police personnel and their family members who had gathered at the force headquarters in Delhi raised slogans like 'We want justice', 'Who will protect the protectors', 'How is the josh? Low sir' and 'We miss you Kiran Bedi' to express their angst against their seniors.
More than six appeals were made by senior police officers like Joint Commissioner of Police (Southern Range) Devesh Srivastava, Joint Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Anand Mohan, Joint Commissioner of Police (Central) Rajesh Khurana, Special Commissioner of Delhi Police RS Krishnia, but the protestors did not budge.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)