Northeast Delhi violence: HC to hear petitions from February 8

The Delhi High Court on Friday said that it would hear from February 8, a batch of petitions related to Northeast Delhi violence.

The petitions earlier heard by the Bench headed by the Chief Justice of Delhi have now been transferred to the bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani.

On Friday, the new bench said that it will start the hearing from Tuesday (February 8), after taking note of Supreme Court direction passed on December 17, 2021 that requested the Delhi HC to dispose of expeditiously, preferably within three months related matters pending before it.

The Delhi Police has also last week filed a fresh status report in Delhi High Court with regards to all 758 FIRs in connection with North East Delhi violence, alongwith the detail of present stages before the trial court, following court direction passed on the last date of hearing.

The status report states that out of 758 cases registered, 695 cases are being investigated by North-East District police. 62 cases that pertained to major incidents like murders, etc were transferred to the Crime Branch, where three dedicated 'Special Investigating Teams' investigated these cases under continuous monitoring of superior officers. One case pertaining to the larger conspiracy behind the engineering of the communal riots in Delhi is being investigated by the Special Cell.

The Division bench of Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh earlier directed Delhi Police to file the status report after a counsel appearing for Jamait ulema-i-hind alleged that the last status report filed by Delhi Police did not have many details.

Delhi Police also submitted that the FIRs arising out of or registered in connection with the riots which took place in North-East District in February-March 2020, have been or are being investigated promptly, diligently, and in accordance with law by the Delhi Police, which is now under trial in courts.

It was also submitted that the investigations carried out by the state police are credible, fair, honest, impartial, and complete in all aspects.

The status report of Delhi Police further submitted that apart from bald, fanciful, and uncorroborated assertions and allegations made in the present batch of petitions, which are motivated and made for reasons extraneous to the process contemplated under CrPC, there exists not even an iota of substance in the present petitions, which are required to be dismissed only on the ground that the investigations and the process of law in connection with the aforesaid FIRs are at an advanced stage and no ground/ circumstances for transferring of the case to a new SIT exists.

The Delhi Police had earlier submitted before the High Court that the speeches of political leaders including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Anurag Thakur, Kapil Mishra, Pravesh Verma, and others are being examined and necessary action will be taken if it is found that their speech had any nexus with the violence.

The Delhi Police, in its affidavit filed on a batch on pleas pertaining to violence, said that the police authorities acted promptly, vigilantly, and effectively without any fear or favour as a result of which violence could be contained in few days and to a limited area.

"It is also submitted that the petitioners in the present petition have not come before this court with clean hands. They have selectively chosen certain speeches and incidents to further their hidden agenda," Delhi Police said in its affidavit.

"It is stated that the selective outrage by the petitioners towards specific incidents while ignoring other abhorrent incidents of violence, itself manifest that the present petitions are not bonafide but motivated need to be dismissed," it added.

Around 53 people lost their lives in the violence that erupted in northeast Delhi after clashes between two opposing factions over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

( With inputs from ANI )