Delhi: Bar owner, 9 others held for assaulting 8 cops during raid
Darpan News Desk IANS, 25 Jul, 2022 01:16 PM
New Delhi, July 25 (IANS) As many as eight policemen were injured during a raid at a bar in Hauz Khas village when the said bar's owner and nine of his employees allegedly attacked them with rods, sticks and pipes, officials said Monday.
Following the incident, the police has arrested 10 people, including the bar owner under sections 186 (Whoever voluntarily obstructs any public servant in the discharge of his public functions), 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 332 (Voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) and 34 (Common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
The incident took place on the intervening night of July 20-21 at DownTown Club, located at the Hauz Khas village in south Delhi.
According to the FIR, accessed by IANS, the Special Staff of southwest district police had received an input regarding illegal discotheques and tobacco hookah bars being run in the Hauz Khas village area with loud music. "The information was shared with senior officers who directed to constitute a team and conduct a raid at the said bars," the FIR lodged by a Sub-Inspector of the Special Staff of southwest district police read.
Subsequently, the police conducted a raid at a building in the Hauz Khas village where three bars were running on three floors of it. "When we entered the downtown bar, there was a gathering of 20-30 people who were consuming liquor and smoking tobacco hookah and dancing to loud music," the complaint read, adding that the police officials then introduced themselves to the owner of the establishment and asked for relevant licences.
The officials alleged that the said man instead of showing the licences as demanded, started shouting at the cops and also abused them.
As the policemen tried to further persuade the owner, he and his nine staffers started pushing them out of the bar. "When the police team again tried to persuade them...., nine people assaulted us with their hands, threw tables, chairs and bottles on us and some of them hit us with rods, sticks and steel pipes," the FIR read.
A senior Delhi police officer told IANS that all the offenders were later arrested by the police. "The said place where the assault took place has been shut now and we have seized their licenses. A probe is still underway," the senior police official said.
Notably, the Hauz Khas village is famous for its nightlife as it houses a large number of budget bars and pubs.
The demand made by citizens primarily mirrored their right to clean air and the right to breathe, underlining the reality that Punjab is home to some of India's most polluted towns, including Mandi Gobindgarh, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Khanna, and Patiala.
The case was assigned to the division bench of Justices A.G. Masih and Ashok Kumar Verma. Earlier, the case was being heard by the bench of Justices Rajan Gupta and Ajay Tewari but the latter recused himself from hearing the case on September 1.
Furnishing details about the incident, Additional DCP-2 Nishant Gupta told IANS that they had received information about a firing incident in the northeast Delhi area on October 1.
The activists of Punjab Congress will walk towards Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh if Priyanka Gandhi is not released and the Union Minister's son accused of murder not arrested, said state party President Navjot Sidhu on Tuesday.
Referring to police action against protesting farmers in Congress-ruled Rajasthan, the BJP leader said, "Congress leaders who are very keen to visit Lakhimpur Kheri have not uttered a single word against police lathicharge on farmers in Hanumangarh, Rajasthan."
Comparisons are on in social media whether this arrest could change the Congress fortunes as after Indira Gandhi's arrest and later in the election in 1980 the Congress returned with a thumping majority.
