New Delhi, Oct. 29: The Delhi police brass today issued an advisory instructing the force on how to handle situations involving state bhavans so that there's no repeat of the Kerala House fiasco.
"Henceforth, whenever any occasion/situation arises and preventive or other action is required at any of the state bhavans, efforts should also be made to contact the resident commissioner or his representative," says the circular issued by Deepak Mishra, senior special commissioner (law and order).
On Monday, a team of 30 cops had marched to the Kerala House canteen to make enquiries after a Hindu radical falsely alleged that cow meat - banned in Delhi - was being served there. The controversy deepened when the canteen pulled its popular buffalo meat dishes off the menu for a day.
The circular stresses the importance of contacting the resident commissioner.
"Where delay can result in any commission of crime or escalate law-and-order problem or damage to life and property, appropriate legal action should be initiated without any delay. In such situations, (the) assistance of the resident commissioner or his representative should be obtained at the first opportunity," it says.
It indirectly admits that Monday's action was a mistake, saying: "On receiving a PCR call, concerned local police officers went to a state bhavan and did not establish liaison with the resident commissioner or his representative while securing the place and making enquiries."
On Tuesday, police commissioner B.S. Bassi had said the police had followed standing operating procedures and that their objective was to prevent caller Vishnu Gupta, leader of the Hindu Sena, from creating "mischief".
Former Delhi police commissioner Ved Marwah said the police "should have been careful" and not rushed to Kerala House following "some mischievous phone call".
On Bassi's defence, he said: "Instead of making an inquiry, they should have deployed their men outside the bhavan if they apprehended any law-and-order problem from these hooligans."
Marwah said the police "should have realised that there's a political brain that is trying to communalise the environment - they should think twice before overreacting on such sensitive issues".
An IPS officer said the advisory had been sent to all the 186 police stations in the capital. "They have been instructed to deal with such situations with extreme caution and restraint."
M.S. Khan, a lawyer, found the promptness of Monday's police action "surprising".
"We don't see such alacrity when common people visit police stations. They make them sit for hours even while registering an FIR," he said.
"What they did on Monday should be condemned and heads should roll to send a strong message."
Khan said the Agricultural Cattle Preservation Act 1994 allowed a state veterinary officer to enter and inspect premises within his jurisdiction if he has reason to believe an offence under the act has been, is being or is likely to be committed there.
"But it doesn't allow beef raids by the police, who lack the expertise to decide what kind of animal a piece of meat came from," he said.
Last night, the police arrested Gupta on the charge of making a false complaint. Gupta had earlier been taken into preventive detention. Another Hindu Sena activist, Mohit Rajput, was arrested today for trespassing into Kerala House.
Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy to day wrote his second letter in three days to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking action against the Delhi police and threatening legal action by the state if it did not receive a satisfactory reply from the Centre, PTI reported.
