Hooligans liable to compensate the victims of violence: SC
New Delhi, Oct 1 : Issuing guidelines including video-recording of vandalism and hooliganism, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that whoever causes damage to public or private property will be made liable to compensate the victims of violence.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice Dr D.Y. Chandrachud said the authorities must ensure that arrests of miscreants found on the spot are done in right earnest.
It was the last judgement delivered by the current Chief Justice Dipak Misra in which he has directed the state governments to set up rapid response teams preferably district-wise and specially train them to deal with mob violence and deploy these teams around vulnerable cultural establishments.
The order came on a public interest litigation filed by Kodungallur Film Society, which had sought framing of guidelines to deter acts of vandalism.
"This Court has time and again underscored the supremacy of law and that one must not forget that administration of law can only be done by law-enforcing agencies recognised by law," the court said.
"Nobody has the right to become a self-appointed guardian of law and forcibly administer his or her own interpretation of the law on others, especially with violent means. Mob violence runs against the very core of our established legal principles since it signals chaos and lawlessness. The state has a duty to protect its citizens against illegal and reprehensible acts of such groups," the court said.
Observing loss to property during such incident, the court directed authorities to video-record the events and, if required, hire private video operators to record the events or request the media for information on the incident.
Claims arising out of such acts of violence should be dealt with in the manner prescribed under the destruction of public and private properties, the court said, directing police officers to file first information reports and complete investigation as far as possible within the statutory period.
"Any failure to file FIRs and conduct investigations within the statutory period without sufficient cause should be considered as dereliction of duty on behalf of the officer concerned and can be proceeded against by way of departmental action in right earnest," the court said.
As liability of person causing violence, the court ordered agencies to take appropriate action against such persons and the leader of the organisations involved in such acts under provisions of the Indian Penal Code.
The court also directed the governments to set up special helplines, create and maintain a cyber information portal on its website and on its internet-based applications for reporting instances of mob violence and destruction of public and private properties.
It also ordered that the authorities may consider taking appropriate steps as per law including to impose reasonable restrictions on the social media and internet-based communication services or mobile applications.
The court directed that authorities to take coordinated efforts and issue messages across various audio-visual mediums including local TV channels, radio stations, social media like Twitter to restore peace and to control rumours.
The court directed nodal officers to coordinate with local emergency services, including police stations, fire brigades, hospital, medical services and disaster management authorities during incidents of mob violence in order to have a comprehensive and consolidated response to the situation.
The authorities must consider the use of non-lethal crowd-control devices, like water cannons and tear gas, which cause minimum injury to people but at the same time, act as an effective deterrent against mob force, the court said.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
