The drama and the procedure: What happened when Delhi and Himachal cops faced off over arrest of 3 alleged Youth Congress workers?

The suspects were ultimately produced before a court in Shimla on Thursday morning, and a transit remand was obtained. The Delhi Police team has come back to the capital, and the suspects will be likely produced before a Delhi court now.

While the day- and night-long standoff in Himachal Pradesh was dramatic and at times ugly, such situations between the police forces of two states over the legal procedure for arresting and taking action against accused persons is not entirely unheard of in the country.

Here’s what happened, and why.

What was the issue? What happened in Himachal on Wednesday?

A 15-member team of the Delhi Police, led by an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), travelled to Himachal Pradesh to carry out an operation in connection with the ‘shirtless’ protest organised by the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) during the AI Impact Summit at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on February 20. The Delhi Police have been cracking down on the protesters, and eight suspects, including the national president of the Youth Congress, had already been arrested.

The Delhi Police team reached a resort in Shimla on Wednesday morning and took into their custody three suspects allegedly involved in the protest. They also collected the digital video recorders (DVRs) from CCTV cameras at the resort, and seizing a Mahindra Thar vehicle in which the three men were allegedly travelling.

After completing their operation within two hours, the Delhi Police team left the resort in their convoy of three vehicles and headed back to the capital.

However, the Shimla Police stopped the team near Solan, and asked them to follow the legal procedure for arresting individuals from another state.

They asked the Delhi Police to produce the arrest warrant, and to explain why they had not informed the local police before conducting the operation. The Himachal Police also wanted to know why the suspects had not been produced before a local court to obtain a transit remand.

In their defence, the Delhi Police argued that they had sufficient legal ground to produce the accused directly before a court in Delhi. The Delhi Police team also informed the Himachal Pradesh Police that they had indeed tried to produce the accused in the local court for a transit remand, but had been told that the judge was not available.

With no meeting ground between the conflicting claims, a stalemate ensued, which continued late into the night. The Delhi Police officers were detained at the Shoghi police post.

The Himachal Pradesh Police informed the Delhi Police personnel that a case had been registered against them at the Chirgaon Police Station for abduction, house trespass, and wrongful confinement, based on a complaint filed by the owner of the resort from where the suspects had been picked up. The Delhi Police personnel were questioned and their credentials were verified.

On Thursday morning, the Delhi Police were allowed to produce all three accused before a local court in Shimla, where an 18-hour transit remand was issued. After this, around 6 am, the team was allowed to travel back to Delhi with the accused.

What is the correct legal procedure for such situations?

As per legal procedure and protocol, if a state police force conducts an operation in another state, it must inform the local police before carrying out a raid. In this case, the Delhi Police did not inform the local police before conducting the operation.

Retired Delhi Police ACP Ved Bhushan said that the standard operating procedure (SOP) requires the raiding team to inform the local police of the other state, especially if there is a possibility of unrest or objections during the operation in their jurisdiction.

The local police are, in turn, expected to provide assistance to the visiting police team, Bhushan said.

Also, the raid team must apprise the local police of seizures, if any, in an official document. “The raiding police team informs the local police about the items seized during the raid through a seizure memo,” Bhushan said.

However, if the operation is sensitive or secret, the raiding team may loop in the local police after the action, and can then produce the accused before a local court to obtain transit remand.

A transit remand is essentially permission granted by a local court to take an accused person to another state, where the case has been registered, within a specified time frame.

However, obtaining transit remand is not mandatory if the accused can be brought back to the concerned state within 24 hours. “In this case, bringing the accused back from Shimla by road would have taken only about seven hours. That is why obtaining a transit remand was not mandatory,” Bhushan said.

However, as things happened, after being detained for several hours, the Delhi Police were asked to submit the seizure memo to the Himachal Pradesh Police, detailing the items recovered and seized from the accused. They were allowed to return to Delhi after their statements had been recorded.

And what is likely to happen in Delhi during the day?

The legal process is likely to be as follows:

The Delhi Police will produce the 3 suspects before a magistrate in Delhi. They may ask for the suspects’ custody. If they do not seek the suspects’ custody, the three men will be sent to jail.

But since there is now an FIR in Shimla against the Delhi Police personnel, a team of the Shimla Police will come to Delhi to arrest or detain the accused police personnel. They will have to obtain a transit remand from a Delhi court, and then, in a reverse procedure, take the accused Delhi Police personnel back to Himachal Pradesh and produce them before a court in Shimla.