Janak Dwarkadas, senior counsel and amicus curiae (friend of court), on Thursday told the Bombay high court that all police vehicles reaching the scene of vandalism should have video cameras.
It was one among the several suggestions given to the state government to prevent incidents of political vandalism.
Dwarkadas also suggested that there should be a claims commissioner who will have the authority to estimate damages and calculate liabilities. “The claims commissioner should be established at the district level and shall consist of the power of the principal district judge. The claims commissioner should possess the power of a civil court.” He said that video recordings of such incidents should be made acceptable as evidence.
The high court was hearing a suo motu petition on political vandalism. Earlier this year, the court had converted a letter written by retired IPS officer and former police commissioner Julio Ribeiro in to a public interest litigation. The court had appointed Dwarkadas amicus curiae.
The division bench of chief justice Swatanter Kumar and justice Ajay Khanwilkar asked
what action had been taken against culprits in the attack on the office of a news channel. “We’ve arrested 20 people,” Niranjan Pandit, counsel for the government, said.
The government said they had recovered Rs57,000 from 10 activists of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s students wing for damaging the registrar’s office at the University of Mumbai in January. “This is the first time that money has been recovered from any political party,” Pandit said. Also, the collector had sent a notice to the Shiv Sena demanding Rs7.8 lakh towards damages at the Hotel Intercontinental in Sahar.
The Bombay Police Act allows recovery of damages from persons or political parties responsible for destruction of public property during agitations, Rebeiro wrote in his letter, but the police doesn’t enforce it.
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