Delhi High Court directs police to expedite ex-DUSU president's request for protection

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court directed the city police on Thursday to expedite the request for protection from former Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) president Ronak Khatri, who has claimed to have received threats to his life. In a plea before the court, Khatri has said he has received threat messages from a Ukraine-registered phone number and the sender of the messages, who claimed to be an infamous gangster, has demanded Rs 5 crore from him and threatened to kill him if the amount is not paid.

Justice Ravinder Dudeja said it is the duty of the State to protect the life of all its citizens and this court, being a constitutional court, is expected to further the constitutional protection of citizens.

"Since the petitioner (Khatri) perceives a threat to his life, the DCP, Outer North, as well as the DCP, Special Cell, is directed to expedite the request made by the petitioner for police protection," the court said. It added that the beat constable and the station house officer concerned should be counselled to immediately attend to any call made by Khatri. The court further asked the beat constable to regularly visit the petitioner for the next two weeks to ensure his well-being.

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DUSU president's application for security

During the hearing, Delhi Police's standing counsel Sanjay Lao told the court that Khatri's application for security has been forwarded to the deputy commissioner of police (DCP) of the Special Cell, who would have to assess the threat perception and take a call. Khatri, represented in the court by advocates Shaurya Vikram and Obhirup Ghosh, has claimed that the threat messages were sent by a person associated with the Rohit Godara gang, which is allegedly involved in multiple criminal cases.

According to Khatri's plea, despite the serious threat to his life, only limited protection was provided to him on September 29, which was not static in nature and did not include continuous deployment of police at his residence. The protection was withdrawn the next day and the petitioner was informed that a threat assessment would be conducted by police.

From then, he has repeatedly approached the Delhi Police, seeking reinstatement of the protection for himself and his family. However, despite several representations, no response has been received, the plea says. Khatri was the president of the DUSU last year.