Behind Congress protest at Jaipur police headquarters, a call from Rahul Gandhi

For the second consecutive day, top leaders of the Congress’s Rajasthan unit continued their indefinite sit-in at the Jaipur Police Commissionerate on Tuesday, demanding that a zero FIR be filed against Delhi Police personnel accused of assaulting student leader Ritu Barala earlier this month.

This comes a few days after the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, called up state Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra, asking him to ensure that an FIR was registered against a woman constable accused of assaulting Barala, who hails from Jhunjhunu, in Rajasthan.

On Monday evening, Barala and other NSUI workers had approached Jaipur Police, seeking registration of an FIR.

The Jaipur Police, however, have refused to register a Zero FIR, maintaining that Delhi Police have already taken cognizance of the matter and that there is no legal provision for registering another FIR in the case.

On Monday evening, Barala and other NSUI workers had approached Jaipur Police, seeking registration of an FIR. (Express Photo by Rohit Jain Paras)

The Congress leaders, on the other hand, argued that the issue merited a fresh FIR.

As of late Tuesday, Dotasra, LoP in state Assembly Tika Ram Jully, Congress Chief Whip Rafeek Khan, MLA Amin Kagzi, Jaipur Congress city president Sunil Sharma and other senior leaders were continuing their sit-in.

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Earlier in the day, with top party leaders inside the compound, Congress workers, including Indian Youth Congress state president Abhishek Choudhary, had marched till the Commissionerate but were stopped by the police who had barricaded the gates. This had led to a scuffle between Congress workers and police twice in daytime. Late Tuesday evening, cops allegedly cane-charged protesting Congress workers outside the gates.

Dotasra said the Jaipur police were required to act merely as a “mailman” by registering a Zero FIR and forwarding it to the appropriate police station. “But if they’re not doing even that, then where is the law, Constitution or governance? It is simply dictatorship and anarchy,” he said.

Minister of State for Home Jawahar Singh Bedham, meanwhile, dismissed the protest as “Congress nautanki (drama)”, arguing that there could be only one FIR in a case. “When you have given a complaint to Delhi Police, how can there be another FIR here? They should stop their nautanki,” he said.

Talking to journalists, Jaipur Additional Commissioner of Police Ajay Singh said there had been a scuffle between Barala and a police constable on October 13, following which the Connaught Place police station registered FIR number 291/2026 (against Barala). The student leader, subsequently, submitted her own grievance, which the police received and attached to the same FIR, he said.

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“A Zero FIR is lodged when you are unable to reach a police station and so you get an FIR lodged at a different police station,” Singh said. He said that BNSS section 173, which provides for the registration of a zero FIR, was not applicable in this case because Barala had already submitted a written complaint and Delhi Police had taken cognizance of it. There was, therefore, “no legal provision to lodge a zero FIR”, he said.

Dotasra, however, said that the FIR being cited by Jaipur police had been registered against Barala and other protesters “to torture them”. “Is there a law where, within the same FIR, both the complainant and the person against whom the FIR has been lodged are accused?” he asked.

Questioning the absence of Jaipur Police Commissioner Sachin Mittal at the Commissionerate, Dotasra argued that cross-FIRs are registered when both parties have grievances against each other. He also maintained that registering an FIR in a case involving an alleged offence against a woman was mandatory, citing Supreme Court directions.

The ‘assault’

According to Barala, she and other NSUI workers were detained on October 13 while protesting outside Rajiv Chowk Metro station against alleged “vote chori” and demanding the removal of CEC Kumar.

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She alleged that after being detained, she was assaulted inside a police bus by a woman constable, who allegedly choked her, pulled her hair and slapped her. Barala was subsequently admitted to a hospital.

On October 14, Barala and others appeared alongside Gandhi at a press conference, where the Congress leader referred to her as a sherni (lioness). Recounting the alleged assault, she claimed that after being attacked inside the bus, she was assaulted again at the police station by the said constable besides five to seven women in plain clothes. She alleged that the woman constable punched and kicked her.

On October 15, NSUI national president Vinod Jakhar, Barala and other workers reached the Parliament Street police station, demanding an FIR over the alleged police excesses, and staged a protest outside the premises.

A call from Rahul

On October 16, Barala and some other NSUI workers met Gandhi again and told him that Delhi Police had refused to register an FIR on her allegations. With Barala seated beside him, Gandhi made a call to Dotasra.

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On Monday evening, Barala and other NSUI workers approached Jaipur’s Moti Doongri police station to seek registration of an FIR. They were turned away and directed to meet the Jaipur Police Commissioner.

Subsequently, a Congress delegation including Dotasra, Barala, Khan, Sharma and others reached the Commissionerate on Monday evening.

While Police Commissioner Mittal was not at the Commissionerate, and cops present refused to lodge an FIR, the Congress leaders, who were joined by MLA Kagzi, spent the night on the premises. Late on Monday, former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot also joined the protest for some time.

LoP Jully, who joined the sit-in on Tuesday morning, said: “It is dictatorship. The investigation will be done by the police itself. (But) If you think the FIR is wrong, then file an FR (Final Report, to shut the case).”