Himachal-Delhi Police standoff ends; arrested Youth Congress activists allowed to travel

Shimla, Feb 26
The 24-hour-long standoff between the police of Delhi and Himachal Pradesh ended on Thursday, with the latter allowing its counterpart to take three Youth Congress activists arrested in connection with the “shirtless protest” at the AI Summit to the national capital.

A day earlier, the Himachal Police registered a kidnapping case against its Delhi counterparts and “detained” their vehicles at the Shogi border near Shimla along with the three Youth Congress activists when they were en route to Delhi.

In a late-night development, the three accused, along with Delhi Police personnel, were taken to the residence of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Ekansh Kapil after undergoing medical examination at the Deendyal Upadhyay Zonal Hospital here and were granted the transit remand.

Later, the Delhi Police personnel were detained in the state capital, and a few police personnel were allowed to return to the national capital with the accused.

The remaining police personnel were asked to stay behind and cooperate with the investigation into the kidnapping case against them.

The Himachal police “seized” a vehicle belonging to the Delhi Police that contained CCTV footage and other evidence. However, the Delhi Police pleaded that the “seized” vehicle carried digital evidence, documents and arms.

The arrested leaders belonged to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

At least 20 Delhi police personnel were detained on Wednesday for arresting the Youth Congress leaders from Rohru town in Shimla district.

A Delhi Police team reached Rohru, arrested the leaders, and was heading back to Delhi when it was stopped near Dharampur town in Solan district by the state police, which detained them.

The arrest of policemen was carried out by the Shimla Police.

Congress lawmaker Kuldeep Rathore has demanded that the state government take stern action against the Delhi Police.

He termed the police action against Youth Congress leaders as an attempt to suppress their voices.

“Raiding premises without a warrant is a clear violation of privacy,” Rathore said in a press statement on Wednesday.

Rathore also criticised the Central government, stating that the country isn’t the property of one party. “In a democracy, governments come and go, but the opposition’s duty is to raise the people’s voice,” he said