Plea in SC for SIT probe into violent protests against Agnipath, damage to properties

Amid massive protests and arson being witnessed against Agnipath scheme, a plea has been moved in the Supreme Court for a direction to set up an expert committee under the chairmanship a retired top court's judge to examine its impact on national security and army of the country.

Petitioner-advocate Vishal Tiwari also sought a direction from the court to form a special investigation team to enquire about the violent protests and assess damage caused to public properties including of Railways.

The plea also said a Claim Commissioner should be appointed by the states which suffered losses due to large scale agitation in conformity with guidelines issued in the Supreme Court's judgement in "In Re Destruction of Public and Private Properties" on April 16, 2009.

Citing several instances of violent protests and attack on political leaders houses in Bihar, the petitioner contended the situation required immediate judicial intervention as the Rule of Law is at stake and there has been severe violation of fundamental right to life of people due to "mala fide and arbitrary scheme of the government resulting in such a havoc".

Questioning the Angipath scheme, he claimed, "Such arbitrary and experimental scheme has created a havoc in the country with no response from the Centre, which has led to wide spread damage of public properties."

The petitioner has made the Union government and states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Haryana and Telangana as parties to the plea.

He claimed a short term contractual scheme launched on June 14 comes as a great demotivation to the Army aspirants since only 25 % of the recruits would be retained after four years.

"As opined by various military veterans, this scheme of contractual recruitment could compromise on training, morale and commitment in comparison to the permanent recruits. Such experimental radical change in the structure and pattern of the military can lead to severe strategic uncertainties which could compromise the national security of the country," the plea claimed.