Greeva Garg –
Published on: August 24, 2021, at 13:09 IST
The Delhi High Court has asked the Delhi Police to submit the latest status reports of cases relating to North-East Delhi Riots of 2020, pending before Trial Courts.
The High Court said the Police shall disclose in its report, “The status of the cases as to in how many of them charge sheets have been filed, charges have been framed and how many prosecution witnesses examined.”
The division bench comprising of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh while hearing batch of pleas related to the last year violence and alleged hate speeches by leaders which led to eruption of violence related to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), stated that, “Delhi Police is requested to file counter bringing on record the latest position on filing of charge sheets and position of trial going on in the courts till the next proceeding on October 8.”
Among batch of petitions, a petition sought for initiating Police investigations into deaths of 53 people due to Delhi Riots, FIRs should be lodged against offenders in the violence.
Plea for lodging FIRs against political leaders, including, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, as well as AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Amanatullah Khan, and AIMIM MLA Waris Pathan for allegedly causing eruption for violence were also filed in the Court.
The Police earlier submitted an affidavit stating that, “The investigations into the northeast Delhi riots have not revealed any evidence till now that political leaders instigated or participated in the violence.”
The Court was also dealing with a PIL filed by a Delhi resident Ajay Gautam, who urged to find out the anti-national forces behind the agitations through National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) into the violence
Also, pleas came across which sought for actions to be taken against Police officers who were allegedly involved in the violence and disclosure of persons arrested and detained.
In response to the pleas, Delhi Police has constituted three Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the crime branch, however, no evidence against its officers has been found yet.
Prima Facie to its investigations by the Police, they revealed that, “This was not a case of any sporadic or spontaneous violence but appears to be a part of a well thought of conspiracy to destabilize the harmony in the society.”