Delhi Riots: Court orders probe into Police beating Muslim men, forcing them to sing national anthem

A Delhi Court has directed investigation into the incident in which police personnel were captured on video beating Muslim men and forcing them to sing the national anthem and Vande Mataram and to chant Jai Shri Ram amid the Delhi riots of 2020 [Mohd. Waseem vs. State through SHO & Ors.]..Magistrate Udbhav Kumar Jain of Karkardooma Court directed that a First Investigation Report (FIR) be registered against the Station House Officer (SHO) of Jyoti Nagar police station, Tomar for the offences of wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation, hurt and religious insult under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).“FIR be registered under sections 295-A/323/342/506 IPC against the SHO PS Jyoti Nagar (Mr. Tomar) who was holding the said post in February-March 2020,” the Court directed. According to the complaint filed by one, Mohd Waseem, he had stepped out of his house on the fateful day of February 24, 2020 in search of his mother during the riots’ situation.He then allegedly saw Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kapil Mishra leading an unlawful assembly and shooting at the protestors. .The police started firing tear gas shells on the protesters with a thick cannon gun which resulted in a dense smoke. The complainant tried to escape from the rioting area but fell down. He allegedly saw policemen also supporting the Kapil Mishra and others, the order noted.Later some police personnel, on the instructions of the SHO, threw the complainant along with a few other injured people and started beating them and also made them chant slogans like Jai Shri Ram and Vande Mataram.The incident was also recorded on video by a few police personnel.Later, the SHO allegedly forced Waseem and his father to sign a paper carrying content not written by him and to make statements to the media under the SHO's directions.They did so under fear, the Court was told. Waseem later sent a complaint regarding the alleged incident through email to top police officials and the National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRC) but no action was taken.This led him to move the Court for a direction to investigate by filing an application under Section 156(3) of the Criminal Procedure Code..The Court directed the current SHO to conduct an investigation and ascertain the roles of other police officials involved. “Current SHO is directed to depute a responsible officer not below the rank of Inspector to conduct investigation in the present matter and role of other unknown police officials involved in the commission of alleged offences,” the Court directed. The Court observed that the police officials had engaged themselves in hate crimes against the complainant for which no sanction was required to prosecute.“Clearly, the SHO PS Jyoti Nagar, Mr. Tomar (complete name with post not provided) and other unknown police officials engaged themselves in hate crimes against the complainant/victim and they cannot be protected under the garb of sanction as alleged offences committed by them cannot be said to have been committed while acting or purporting to act in the discharge if their official duty,” the Court stated. .The Court also observed that the action taken report (ATR) merely denied the complainant's (Waseem) allegations and did not mention any substantive steps taken for conducting a preliminary inquiry. The Court also observed that the ATR was silent on the aspect of CCTV footage of the incident, which the IO should have inquired into. .Further, it was found that the ATR was conspicuously silent with respect to the allegations against a former Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA).“it seems that the IO was more concerned about the police officials and either he failed to make inquiry against the alleged accused no.3, or he tried to cover up the allegations against the said accused. The ATR is completely silent qua him,” the Court observed. Hence, with respect to the former MLA, the Court directed the complainant to approach an MP/MLA court..[Read order]