Court Terms Delhi Riots Probe 'Poor', Seeks Police Commissioner's Intervention

Court stated the police filed 'half-baked' charge sheets in multiple cases with the accused names.

File Photo: Delhi Riots 2020 over anti-CAA protests. 

Image for representation purpose.

(Photo: PTI)

A Delhi court on Sunday, 29 August, stated that the standard of investigation of the northeast Delhi riots cases in 2020 was 'very poor' and has sought the intervention of Delhi Police Commissioner, news agency PTI reported.

Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Yadav made the observation while framing charges against Ashraf Ali for allegedly attacking the police officials with acid, glass bottles and bricks during the communal violence on 25 February last year during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests.

He directed the copy of order to be sent to the Delhi Police Commissioner “for his reference and directing the taking of remedial steps.”

“It is painful to note that in a large number of cases of riots, the standard of investigation is very poor and in a majority of cases investigating officers (IOs) have not been appearing in court."

Vinod Yadav, Additional Sessions Judge, Delhi Court

PTI reported that in the statement note made by Yadav on Saturday, it stated the police did not take the investigation into serious consideration and were filing 'half-baked' charge sheets in multiple cases with the accused names.

“This case is a glaring example, wherein victims are police personnel itself, yet the IO did not bother to collect the sample of acid and to have its chemical analysis. The IO has further not bothered to collect the opinion about the nature of injuries,” he added.

Judge Yadav also mentioned that IOs involved in the riots have not been briefing the prosecutors and are merely emailing the charge sheets on the day of hearing, The Hindu reported.

"It is high time that the DCP of Northeast District and other higher officers take notice of the observations taken by him and take immediate remedial action required in the matters and seek the assistance of experts in this regard, failing which there is a likelihood of injustice being caused to the persons involved in these cases.”

Vinod Yadav, Additional Sessions Judge, Delhi Court as quoted by The Hindu

What Led to Delhi Riots 2020?

Riots broke out in Northeast Delhi on 23 February between the anti-CAA and pro-CAA protestors. The communal riots led to the death of 53 people, and over 200 injured in the national capital.

The anti-CAA protests began in Delhi and other parts of the country in response to the passing of Citizenship Bill – which paved the way for grant of citizenship to Hindu, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains, Buddhists and Christians who took refuge in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan in or before December 2014.

(With inputs from PTI and The Hindu)