Delhi Police Justifies Actions at CJP Protest: Supreme Court Affidavit

The Delhi Police maintains that it used minimal force at the Cockroach Janta Party protest as violence escalated. A Supreme Court affidavit refutes claims of excessive force, citing insufficient evidence. It also discusses the deployment of facial recognition technology and the involvement of prior offenders in the protests.

The Delhi Police informed the Supreme Court that its officers displayed "maximum restraint" by using only the "minimal required force" to manage protesters from the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) at Jantar Mantar. Their affidavit indicated that the situation escalated when protesters turned aggressive and breached multiple barricades in their march towards Parliament.

The affidavit, part of a batch of petitions accusing the police of excessive force during the protests, saw Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi District) Sachin Sharma rebut allegations about police using nail-fitted lathis, citing a solitary video as the source of the claim. The video purportedly showed a stick with a national flag, claimed to be carried by a protester.

Concluding there was no medical evidence of nail-related injuries, the police highlighted the use of facial recognition technology in crime alerts, particularly for individuals with criminal histories. The technology identified 2,873 individuals, facilitating further investigations into their roles in the protest.