Delhi: The court of additional sessions judge Arul Varma convened eight times between May 2022 to January 2023 to frame charges against 12 accused of instigating violence in Delhi on 13 December 2019, the day people gathered for the first march against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, from Jamia Millia Islamia University to the Parliament.
After special public prosecutor (SPP) Madhukar Pandey appeared in the case on 26 November 2022 for the first time, 198 days after the first hearing on charges on 12 May 2022, and sought more time to prepare, the judge noted that Pandey was appointed on 26 July 2021.
Despite the time that had passed, neither the investigating officer nor the assistant commissioner of police or the deputy commissioner handed over the case to the SPP. Varma demanded an explanation from the police as to why the file was not handed over to him.
On 13 December 2022, three years after the date of the incident, the DCP told the judge that the delay in handing over the case was an “inadvertent” mistake. The judge said the DCP’s explanation was “pretty vague” but that he had regretted the inconvenience caused to the court.
Now, as the judge castigates the police, the State asks for repeated adjournments and the court frames charges, the Delhi police, according to court filings, appear to lack evidence against those accused: a Muslim mechanic, five former Muslim students of Jamia, four Muslim students of Jamia at the time, one Hindu student and one Muslim student from Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Our examination of these filings revealed other infirmities: statements of the accused and witnesses recorded after a year, no independent eyewitnesses and inconsistencies between the FIR, police witness statements and the oral arguments.
The march from Jamia to Parliament was organised a day after the citizenship bill was signed into law by the President of India on 12 December 2019. The CAA allows only non-Muslim migrants from neighbouring Muslim-majority countries a path to citizenship.
Police said a gathering of 700-800 marching from Jamia became violent when they were stopped, threw stones, broke barricades and set alight tires, and destroyed public and private property, forcing them to use tear gas. Among the injured was a student who lost his thumb after a tear gas shell exploded in his hand.
Three years after the violence, the Delhi police have not yet framed charges against the accused who face prosecution under 16 sections of two laws, including rioting, unlawful assembly, assaulting public servants, “attempt to commit culpable homicide”, “mischief by fire” and “criminal conspiracy”.
This story was originally published in article-14.com . Read the full story here