Delhi High Court on Sunday asked police to explain the circumstances and the legal provisions under which they detained some activists last week.
“The respondent (Delhi police) shall file an affidavit explaining the circumstances and the authority of the law by which they (the activists) were detained within a week from today,” the court said during a special Sunday hearing.
The division bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja issued the direction while dealing with the petition of the kin of the detained activists.
Additional standing counsel Sanjeev Bhandari, representing the Delhi police, told the bench that 10 individuals were picked up in connection with an investigation into the registration of an FIR, which was confidential.
He also informed the court that all detained persons had been released and the matter was “not so simple”.
However, the counsel for one of the detained activists claimed the latter was yet to be released.
“You will have to trace him,” the bench told the police.
The bench also directed the preservation of relevant CCTV footage showing how the police took the activists away.
The counsel appearing for the petitioners alleged that around 10 activists, including students, were picked up from outside Dayal Singh College and JLN Metro station in violation of the law, not produced before a magistrate and were abused and tortured.