[Jahangirpuri riots] Police instead of stopping illegal procession, accompanied it: Delhi Court

A Delhi court recently pulled up the Delhi police for their prima facie failure in stopping the Hanuman Jayanti procession held in Delhi's Jahangirpuri on April 16 without prior police permission [State v. Imteyaz & Ors]..Additional Sessions Judge Gagandeep Singh while denying bail to eight men booked for rioting in relation to Jahangirpuri clashes, noted that any complicity by police also requires to be investigated.“It prima facie reflects the utter failure on the part of local police in stopping the said procession having no permission. The issue seems to have been simply brushed aside by the senior officers. The liability on the part of the concerned officials needs to be fixed so that in future no such incident takes place and the police is not complacent in preventing the illegal activities . Their complicity, if any, also needs to be investigated,” the order stated.The Court was dealing with the bail plea of Imteyaz, Noor Alam, Shiekh Hamid, Ahmad Ali, Sheikh Hamid, S K Sahahada, Sheikh Zakir and Ahir. They had argued that they had been framed and held in custody since April 17, 2022.The order, however, noted that all these men had been identified with the help of close circuit surveillance cameras and apprehension of influencing witnesses loomed large.Jahangirpuri in north Delhi had witnessed communal clashes on the eve of Hanuman Jayanti. .The Court in its order highlighted the sequence of events on Hanuman Jayanti on April 16, 2022, in Jahangirpuri and the "role of the local administration in preventing any untoward incident and maintaining law and order situation or their complicity" that needed to be seen..“It is fairly admitted by on behalf of the State that the last procession which was passing through during which the unfortunate riots took place was illegal having no prior permission from police,” it noted..The Court further noted that the local police instead of stopping the procession was accompanying it. “If that was the situation , then the contents of the FIR itself, show that the local staff of police station Jahangir Puri, led by Inspector Rajiv Ranjan as well as other officials from DCP reserve were accompanying the said illegal procession on its route instead of stopping it. It appears that local police instead of performing their duty in stopping the said illegal procession in the beginning itself and dispersing the crowd, was accompanying them to the entire route which later on led to unfortunate riots between the two communities,” the order stated. A copy of the order was directed to be sent to the Delhi Police Commissioner for information and remedial compliance..Chief Public Prosecutor Maqsood Ahmed represented the State and Advocate K Prabhakara Rao argued for the accused persons..[Read Order]