Unmanned barricades still rampant: HC

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Monday noted that unmanned barricades continue to cause problems to the people in the city despite undertakings by the police, as it cited an incident where a judge faced problems while attending to a medical emergency in his family.

A bench of justices Mukta Gupta and Anish Dayal directed the police to file a report on this instance and also give data on how many barricades have been put up by each police station in the Capital, how many are by manned by Delhi Police staff and how many by resident welfare groups.

“The status report will also indicate whether night patrolling staff informs the SHO when any unmanned barricade is found, be it of an RWA or of the Delhi Police. The status report with details of all the police stations shall be filed before the next date of hearing under the signature of the Delhi police commissioner,” it said.

The matter would next be heard on January 9, 2023.

The court’s observation came while hearing a suo moto petition on the alleged menace caused by illegal unmanned barricades in the city. The public interest litigation (PIL) was registered as the court converted a letter written by Om Prakash Goel, who claimed he was the president of the Delhi Pradeshik Aggarwal Sammelan.

On Monday, the court told the Delhi Police’s counsel that it had earlier expressed apprehensions that in case of a medical emergency, these unmanned barricades block the road, causing inconvenience to people.

“This eventually happened when one of the sitting judges had to take his mother to a hospital in the Greater Kailash area and he could not reach anywhere,” the bench said, adding that the incident took place on the intervening night of October 26-27 on the roads leading to the National Heart Institute.

On September 5, the Delhi Police told the court that no unmanned barricades will be left on the city streets.