The Delhi Police has told the Delhi High Court that investigation is pending in 384 cases of the total 758 cases registered in connection with the riots that took place in North-East Delhi in February 2020, whereas chargesheets have been filed in 367 cases.
The Delhi Police gave out the data in its status report which it filed in the High Court in response to the batch of pleas against hate speeches by politicians during the riots.
The Delhi Police said of 758 cases registered, 695 cases are being investigated by North-East District Police. The Crime Branch had been transferred 62 cases which pertained to major incidents like murders, where 3 dedicated Special Investigating Teams were probing these cases under continuous monitoring of superior officers. “1 case pertaining to the larger conspiracy behind the engineering of the communal riots in Delhi is being investigated by the Special Cell,” reads the status report filed before the bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh. The Court has transferred the matter to the bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh after almost two years of its filing.
On 25/11/2021, the Delhi High Court had directed the Delhi Police to file a detailed affidavit/Status Report bringing in record the updated status with regard to the filing of chargesheets and the stage of trial before the trial courts.
Showing its objection to the contentions of the petitioner to transfer the investigation to a Central Investigation Agency like CBI or NIA only, the Delhi Police has submitted that during the entire period of protest against CAA/NRC and blockades of roads by the protesters, it remained vigilant and cautious and took all necessary measures to ensure that the protest may not escalate and the protesters may not breach the law and order situation in the area under the garb of exercising the constitutional rights available with them.
As and when the protesters tried to infringe the law and failed to obey the lawful directions of the enforcement agencies, appropriate legal action was taken against the rioters/miscreants, it said.
Further, it stated that during the riots the police acted promptly, vigilantly and effectively without any fear or favour and in a professional manner. “The Delhi Police acted swiftly to control law and order situation in the affected areas and to save life and property of the people. All earnest efforts, including deployment of adequate force and involving respectable citizens of the area were made to restore normalcy,” reads the affidavit.
Due to the measures taken by it, the violence could be contained in a few days and was confined to a limited area and till date 758 cases have been registered which are being investigated in a professional and scientific manner under monitoring of senior officers, said the affidavit filed by Deputy Commissioner of Police Harendra K. Singh.
The Delhi Police reply came on a bunch of pleas seeking action against politicians and social activists, among others, for allegedly giving provocative speeches against the anti-Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAA) protests, leading to the violence in northeast Delhi which claimed 53 lives and left over 700 injured.