Court dismisses plea to constitute SIT temple vandalisation case in Chawri Bazaar

New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed the plea seeking to constitute a court-monitored Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the alleged conspiracy behind the attack on a temple in old Delhi on June 30.

A division bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C Harishankar turned down the plea observing that the plea is premature after noting that the law has already been set in motion and there is no reason to constitute an SIT.

A fight over parking a two-wheeler in the walled city's Chawri Bazaar area on Sunday took a communal turn when a temple was vandalised by a mob leading to tension in the area.

Advocate Alakh Alok Shrivastava, a petitioner, had prayed to constitute an SIT to identify the people who desecrated the place of worship.

"The attack on a temple in the national capital has hurt religious sentiments of crores of people across the country, including the humble petitioner. Thus, everyone is demanding for strictest action against the attackers and to initiate appropriate departmental action against the concerned police officials who failed to avert such attack leading to communal unrest in the area," the plea said.

This comes a day after the incident's video footage was submitted to the Delhi Police commissioner, in which Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Minister Imran Hussain was seen allegedly provoking the mob to vandalise a temple.

Nine people have been arrested in connection with the case, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Mandeep Singh Randhawa on Wednesday.