HC asks DGP to prepare SoP on managing dharnas

Ranchi: Jharkhand High Court has instructed the director general of police (DGP), Anurag Gupta, to provide a copy of the standard operating procedure (SoP) that the police should follow during demonstrations and dharnas held in the state capital. The order was given by a division bench comprising acting chief justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and justice Arun Kumar Rai while hearing a public interest litigation regarding erratic traffic in the capital.
The issue came to light when Jharkhand high court justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi was caught in a traffic jam on August 23 during the Jan Aakrosh rally organized by the BJP.Dwivedi reached the court late due to the traffic, and he was unable to start the proceedings on time. Following this incident, Dwivedi urged the DGP and other officers to prepare an SoP to address such situations.
The division bench emphasized the importance of maintaining law and order for good governance and protecting society from unruly demonstrators. They stressed that demonstrators should fear the police and the actions that can be taken against them if they become uncontrollable. The case will be heard again on September 20.
The bench suggested that demonstrators can be confined to a specific area, and alternate routes can be planned to divert traffic.