The arrest of three Youth Congress leaders allegedly linked to a protest at the AI Summit in the national capital snowballed into a dramatic jurisdictional face-off between the Delhi Police and Himachal Pradesh Police on Wednesday, with high tension scenes unfolding at Shoghi on the Shimla-Solan border.
A 15-member Delhi Police team, travelling in four vehicles bearing Delhi and Haryana registration numbers, picked up the three activists from a resort in Mandli village in the Chirgaon area of Rohru earlier in the day. The arrests, however, were carried out without prior intimation to the local police, triggering a swift response from Himachal authorities once information filtered in.
Unaware of the operation, the Himachal Police received inputs that “some unknown persons in plain clothes” had forcibly taken away three youths along with their Thar vehicle. “A complaint was received that the CCTV cameras at the premises were also removed without any seizure memo. A case has been registered,” said Shimla Superintendent of Police Gaurav Singh.
As the Delhi Police team attempted to transport the trio out of the state, Solan Police set up nakas near the Dharampur barrier on the Shimla-Chandigarh highway to intercept them. The three activists were later produced before a local court. However, when the Delhi team resumed its journey towards the national capital, citing transit procedure, they were stopped again, this time at the Shoghi police post.
With questions over jurisdiction and the absence of coordination between the two forces, the Shimla police detained the three activists at Shoghi even as discussions between officers from both states continued late into the evening. Till the filing of this report, the impasse remained unresolved.
Sources said the three Youth Congress leaders, believed to be from outside Himachal, had been staying in Chirgaon to evade arrest following the protest at the AI Summit in Delhi. Acting on specific intelligence inputs, the Delhi Police traced their location and conducted the operation.
The episode comes close on the heels of another controversy involving a Delhi Police team entering Himachal Sadan on Sardar Patel Marg in New Delhi two days ago in connection with the same protest. The move had drawn a sharp reaction from Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, who termed the action “unacceptable” and accused the Delhi Police of high-handedness for not informing the Resident Commissioner or state authorities.
“They are Youth Congress activists. What is wrong if rooms were booked for them at Himachal Sadan?” Sukhu had said when questioned about the accommodation arrangements. Wednesday’s developments have now escalated into a full-blown inter-state standoff, raising larger questions about protocol, policing powers and political sensitivities surrounding the AI Summit protest.
