Delhi riots: HC tells cops to identify errant officials in national anthem case

Justice Mukta Gupta, hearing a plea by the mother of one of the victims, Faizan, seeking a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the death of her son, said why the errant persons have not been apprehended even after two years of the incident

The Delhi high court on Tuesday pulled up the city police over delay in identifying the police officials who allegedly assaulted five Muslim men and forced them to sing the National Anthem during the north-east Delhi riots in February 2020.

The court also asked the police as to whether it had checked the records of the police officials who were deployed on duty on February 25, 2020 when the incident took place in Bhajanpura. (Getty Images/Purestock)

Justice Mukta Gupta, hearing a plea by the mother of one of the victims, Faizan, seeking a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the death of her son, said why the errant persons have not been apprehended even after two years of the incident.

The court also asked the police as to whether it had checked the records of the police officials who were deployed on duty on February 25, 2020 when the incident took place in Bhajanpura.

According to the plea by Kismatun, Faizan’s mother, filed through advocate Soutik Banerjee, the police illegally detained her son on February 25, and denied him critical health care, resulting in his death on February 26. She alleged in the petition that her son was mercilessly beaten by the police on February 24, which is evident from a viral video of the incident.

When the former investigating officer, who was present in the hearing, said there were thousands of police officials who were deployed during the riots, the court said, “Let’s take the number to be 20,000. Out of this 20,000 force, everyone’s height, weight and structures are different. If you segregate on that basis, there would be around 5000..How much time does it take?

The officer said that the video was shot from a distance, and the face of the police personnel has not been identified. He said cyber experts have been contacted to enhance the video quality and identify the errant officials.

The investigator also told the court that they have identified a constable, Ravindra, from whose phone the video was obtained. He informed the court that Ravindra has been interrogated several times during which he has denied shooting the video.

The investigator, who has now been transferred from the crime branch, said following this, a lie detector test was conducted on the constable, the result of which came out to be “deceptive”. He also said that the video has been sent to the forensic laboratory, and efforts were on to identify the persons.

He said that the video has been sent to all the police stations across the city to identify the police officials but no breakthrough has been achieved.

When advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for Faizan, told the court that the police have not even preserved the CCTV footage and the records at the Jyoti Nagar police station, the investigator said the CCTV cameras inside the police station were not working since February 24, the date of the incident.

The court also said that it wants all the answers in a fresh status report while adding that there can be no log books or records of the relevant time since it was a complete mess during the riots, and which is why it is seeking the scientific results.

During the proceedings, advocate Mehmood Pracha, who filed an intervention plea on behalf of one of the victims of the incident, told the court that even after two years, the statement of his client has not been recorded.

“You are going to identify the constable. You have victims who are alive. You can’t get the sketches made from them?,” the court said, adding “I hope that you will record the statement of the witnesses”.

Special Public Prosecutor Amit Mahajan for the Delhi police told the court that they had recorded the statement of the witnesses and it would be produced before the court on the next date of hearing. He sought more time to file the status report.

The court asked the police to file the status report with all the answers under the signature of Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Rajesh Deo, and posted the matter for hearing on February 22.