A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE SPILLS OVER TO NEW ERA

NEW DELHI: “We need you”, read a placard with a photo of former top cop Kiran Bedi at the protest by police personnel outside the Delhi Police headquarters on Tuesday. The demand has its roots in an episode during Bedi’s tenure as the deputy commissioner of police in 1988, which was quite similar to one that triggered Tuesday’s agitation.

On January 15, 1988, a man was arrested from a woman’s washroom at St Stephen’s College. He did not tell anyone he was a lawyer. The following day, when he was being produced in court, the other lawyers recognised him and started protesting. The magistrate discharged him. That was the beginning of the problem.