State to move HC for relief to Kullu DC, SP, SDM in Kasol party case
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Shimla, June 30:
Himachal Pradesh Government would move the High Court seeking modification of its June 24 order directing the transfer of the Kullu Deputy Commissioner, Superintendent of Police and the concerned Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), besides ordering registration of an FIR, constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) and initiation of departmental proceedings in the alleged Kasol party case.
Addressing mediapersons here on Monday, Advocate General Anup Rattan said the State would file an application seeking modification of the June 24 order and would also request the High Court to prepone the hearing presently fixed for August 6.
Rattan said the Division Bench had passed the order primarily on the basis of the report submitted by the Secretary, District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), and the State wanted to place additional facts before the court.
He said the Kullu Superintendent of Police had stated in his affidavit that permission had been granted to the organisers to hold a music event on private land at Green Forest-I and Green Forest-II. The organisers had not sought permission for a rave party, he added.
The Advocate General said the police had already anticipated the possibility of narcotics being used during the event and had deployed personnel in plain clothes for surveillance. He maintained that the police acted promptly on intelligence inputs and intervened during the programme.
Rattan further said the organisers had obtained the necessary permission under the Excise Act to serve liquor and, therefore, the event could not automatically be termed an illegal rave party.
He said the State Government has already framed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for regulating such events and these are being followed across Himachal Pradesh. Similar music festivals and commercial events are organised in Shimla, Manali and Dharamshala after obtaining the requisite permissions, he said.
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On June 24, a Division Bench of Chief Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia and Justice Bipin Chander Negi had directed the State Government to transfer the Kullu Deputy Commissioner, Superintendent of Police and the concerned SDM within one week, observing that there had been prima facie administrative lapses in permitting the event.
The Bench had also ordered registration of an FIR, constitution of an SIT headed by an officer not below the rank of Deputy Inspector General of Police and initiation of departmental proceedings. The matter is listed for further hearing on August 6.
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