Two years is a short span of time when it comes to court cases in our judicial system. But for the victims of the vicious riots of 2020, the wait for justice is a continuance of unbearable trauma and pain. And for the innocent among the hundreds of ‘accused’ lodged in jail awaiting hearings in the Delhi riots cases, precious years of life have already been lost.
The communal riots that wounded northeast Delhi and shook the nation were clearly the execution of a pre-planned strategy to break the social fabric and tarnish India’s image in the backdrop of then US President Donald Trump’s state visit.
Two years down the line, tall promises of ‘exemplary action’ seem to have come to naught as victims continue to suffer and conspirators stay unidentified and unpunished. No special systems have been put in place to expedite the processes of investigation and justice delivery.
A few days after the violence, in March 2020, Union Home Minister Amit Shah told Parliament that prima facie the riots appeared to be a “planned conspiracy” and promised stern action against the culprits, irrespective of their religion. “The stringent action we take against people who indulged in violence will be an example for the entire country,” he had said.
It has become increasingly clear over two years of investigations that the riots of 2020 were indeed pre-planned. Innocent people and their properties were targeted by extremely radicalised men and women who executed a meticulously planned sequence of events, starting with the ‘protests’ in Shaheen Bagh in December 2019. Police chargesheets and court observations have clearly marked the conspiracy behind the riots.
“The spread of riots on such a big scale in such a short time is not possible without a conspiracy. We have registered a case of conspiracy to probe this angle,” Amit Shah had said. “Around 60 social media accounts were created on 22nd February and were closed down on 26th February. Police will find those behind them. Social media was used to incite hate,” he had added.
The riots took a toll of 53 human lives, injuring 581 persons. Many were reported missing. Properties worth crores were destroyed or looted.
As many as 2,456 people were arrested in connection with 753 riot-related cases. Conviction has happened in two cases till now, and even those are likely to be contested in higher courts. The police have filed chargesheets in 356 cases so far. Of these, 62 cases are being investigated by the Crime Branch.
Already some witnesses are reported to have left the area, more may follow suit. Families of some victims have also moved out.
As the process of law takes its own sweet time, can we hope for justice to be delivered in its real sense?
The Delhi riots were an experiment that has already been replicated in many other states across India in the last two years, Karnataka being the latest. And if the authorities allow such a brazen attack on India’s capital itself to go unaddressed, we can only expect to be sitting ducks for more sinister assaults in future.
Is Justice Being Denied?
Justice delayed is justice denied. Mothers, wives, old parents, young children of riot victims suffer every day as they await justice for loved ones who lost their lives, for loved ones who are losing precious years in jail, for the hard-earned assets they lost as rampaging mobs looted and destroyed targeted properties.
The first two days of riots saw so-called anti-CAA protesters gathering in large numbers at designated spots and targeting Hindu majority areas with the intent to kill and inflict maximum damage. Houses, shops, schools and other properties were marked and targeted.
Properties marked with anti-CAA slogans were not touched – these were Muslim properties that were marked so they could be spared. In these two days, even Delhi Police officers were strategically targeted with guns, stones and sticks. There were disturbing videos of policemen being made to run to save their lives from ferocious mobs. From the third day onwards, the Hindu retaliation started.
“There is evidence of an Urban Naxal-Jihadi network that planned and executed the riots. The Delhi riots are not genocide or a pogrom targeted at any community. They are a tragic outcome of a planned and systematic radicalization of the minorities by a Far Left Urban-Naxal network operating in universities in Delhi. Both communities have suffered greatly as a consequence. The presence of Jihadi organizations like Popular Front of India (PFI) at dharna sites has been observed,” said the fact-finding report released by the Group of Intellectuals and Academicians (GIA) in March 2020 itself.
“The riots which shook the National Capital of the country in February 2020 evidently did not take place in a spur of the moment, and the conduct of the protestors who are present in the video footage which has been placed on record by the prosecution visibly portrays that it was a calculated attempt to dislocate the functioning of the Government as well as to disrupt the normal life of the people in the city,” Delhi High Court judge Justice Subramonium Prasad observed in September 2021 while refusing bail to accused Mohd Ibrahim in the case of head constable Ratan Lal’s murder.
“The systematic disconnection and destruction of the CCTV cameras also confirms the existence of a pre-planned and pre-meditated conspiracy to disturb law and order in the city. This is also evident from the fact that innumerable rioters ruthlessly descended with sticks, dandas, bats etc. upon a hopelessly outnumbered cohort of police officials,” the court said.
Despite strong evidence pointing to the conspiracy angle, the conspirators are still not identified. They are either at large or hoping to prove their ‘innocence’. The strategic destruction of CCTV cameras and the time lapse (due to investigations, paperwork and court hearings) itself is expected to go in favour of the rioters. And with witnesses and victims’ families moving out of the area, justice appears a distant possibility.
There are many cases wherein the persons accused of violence say they can prove they were not even present in Delhi at the time of incidents. “A scientific investigation is being conducted. No innocent will face any trouble. They may be called for questioning, but no one will be arrested without evidence,” the Home Minister had said in Parliament.
The authorities will have to walk the talk to establish an atmosphere where no one can dare to conspire to destroy the nation’s social, communal harmony again.
Delhi Remembers the Victims
The people of Delhi have not forgotten the gruesome murders of Intelligence Bureau officer Ankit Sharma and 20-year-old Dilbar Negi. Head constable Rattan Lal was shot dead in cold blood, DCP (Shahdara) Amit Sharma and ACP (Gokalpuri) Anuj Kumar sustained severe head injuries.
Young Dilbar Negi had come from Uttarakhand and worked in a sweet shop to support his poor family back home. His body was found badly burnt and mutilated. The rioters chopped off his hands and feet before setting fire to the shop. Negi’s mother has never recovered from the shock even as the family continues to struggle to make ends meet. His brother is now too traumatized to even think of working in Delhi.
On January 18 this year, the Delhi High Court granted bail to six persons accused of his murder — Mohd Tahir, Shahrukh, Mohd Faizal, Mohd Shoaib, Rashid and Parvez.
IB officer Ankit Sharma had gone out to pacify the crowds when he was pulled in and stabbed viciously. Ten people, including then Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain, were arrested in this case. The police in its chargesheet categorically said that there was a deep-rooted conspiracy behind the riot and murder of Ankit Sharma, who was specifically targeted by a mob led by Hussain.
“The 51 sharp injuries on the body of Sharma caused by sharp-edged weapon as well as blunt object clearly indicate how cold-blooded rioters brutally killed him in furtherance of a well-hatched conspiracy,” the chargesheet stated.
Media reports citing the autopsy report have said Ankit was stabbed over 400 times and not a single portion of his body was spared. His intestines were ripped apart. Forensic doctors said they had never seen such horrific mutilation. Ankit’s family has shifted out of the area now.
One school was used to launch petrol bombs using a grand catapult. The catapult was welded on to the railing on the terrace of Rajdhani school, owned by Faisal Farukh, from where petrol bombs were launched targeting nearby selected properties.
On the other hand, Yatendra Sharma’s DRP school was vandalized. Rioters entered the DRP school from the Rajdhani public school with the help of an iron chain. These rioters set the DRP school on fire. From computers to ceiling fans, the rioters looted everything in the school.
On the first day of riots i.e. 24th February, rioters set fire to a petrol pump in Bhajanpura. Had the petrol pump blown up, as the rioters had wanted, loss of lives in nearby Bhajanpura and Yamuna Vihar residential areas would have been massive.
The grave nature of conspiracies that made Delhi burn in 2020 cannot be dealt with in a lackadaisical manner. The conspirators, their funding sources, their supporters all have to be identified and given exemplary punishment. Not only is this essential to prove ourselves as an effective State, it is also imperative to restore the confidence of the people in the administration.
Abha Khanna, a senior journalist, is Media Director of an independent think-tank Jammu Kashmir Study Centre (JKSC). The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
Read all the Latest Opinion News and Breaking News here
Comments
0 comment