Midnight court order breaks Shimla-Delhi police deadlock
18-hour transit remand granted after tense standoff over arrest of three Indian Youth Cong activists
The tense faceoff between Shimla and Delhi Police ended in the early hours after a night-long legal and administrative standoff over the custody of three Youth Congress activists arrested from Rohru in Shimla district.
The trio — Siddharth Avdhoot from Madhya Pradesh, and Saurabh Singh and Arbaaz Khan from Uttar Pradesh — were arrested by a Delhi Police team in connection with a protest at the AI Summit in the national capital. They were picked up from a hotel in Chirgaon in the Rohru area on Wednesday morning.
The arrests triggered friction between the two police forces, with the Shimla police objecting that local authorities had not been informed or taken into confidence before the operation was carried out. The situation escalated into a prolonged legal battle late at night when the Delhi Police produced the three activists before Ekansh Kapil, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM-II), around 1.30 am to seek transit remand.
During the hearing, which continued for several hours, counsels representing both sides argued over the legality of the arrest procedure. While the Delhi Police sought transit remand to take the accused to the national capital, the Shimla police opposed the plea, alleging procedural violations. Despite the objections, the court granted an 18-hour transit remand in the wee hours, clearing the way for their transfer to Delhi.
However, the matter did not end there. Even after securing the remand order, the Delhi Police team was stopped again at the Shoghi border on the Shimla-Solan highway on the grounds that a case of abduction had been registered against them at Chiragaon.
The Shimla police had lodged an FIR against members of the Delhi Police team under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, including sections related to kidnapping, house trespass, wrongful confinement and unlawful assembly.
Shimla SP Gaurav Singh said to ensure due legal process and safeguard the rights of the individuals, they were produced before the competent local court and underwent medical examination at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Zonal Hospital in Shimla. He added that after completion of all statutory formalities and verification, the Delhi and Haryana Police teams were allowed to leave for Delhi with the arrested activists.
During the day, the Shimla police, in coordination with the Solan police, intercepted the Delhi team at multiple locations, including Shoghi, ISBT-Shimla and Dharampur, before the issue was finally resolved following the court’s intervention.
