By Vijayta Lalwani and Christophe Jaffrelot
It has been five years since the deadly violence in Northeast Delhi in February 2020 claimed – officially – over 50 lives and displaced thousands, a majority of whom were Muslim. For some, much has changed over the past five years – Kapil Mishra, the Bharatiya Janata Party leader accused of inciting violence through hate speech in the presence of police officials on February 23, 2020, has been politically elevated within the BJP and in Delhi. He is presently an elected official of the Delhi assembly from his constituency in North East Delhi and the new cabinet minister of law and justice.
However, not much has changed for the families awaiting justice and compensation for their losses. The bail petitions of those accused of allegedly conspiring the violence have been languishing at various courts. Student activist Umar Khalid’s bail petition has been rejected three times – twice by the Karkardooma court and once by the Delhi high court. In 2024, Khalid withdrew his bail petition from the Supreme Court citing “change in circumstances” after his plea was adjourned at least 14 times over 11 months.
In January, 160 academics and activists signed a statement demanding the release of Khalid and other activists accused in the Delhi riots conspiracy case such as Sharjeel Imam, Gulfisha Fatima and Khalid Saifi among others.
Five years on, serious questions continue to haunt the authorities, including the Delhi Police as its role during and after the violence came under heavy scrutiny by the victims and subsequently, the courts.
The police investigation of the violence
In the aftermath of the violence, the Delhi Police, which reports directly to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, registered 758 cases. Thousands of local residents in North East Delhi were arrested when investigation began during the nationwide lockdown in 2020. According to the police, they arrested over 2,000 people in 2022 of whom 1,610 were accused of crimes from which 798 were Hindu and 812 were Muslim. As of 2024, chargesheets were filed in only 53% of the 695 cases pertaining to the riots and judgements have been pronounced in only 88 cases.
So far, the courts have given their decision in only 126 cases of the total 758, according to an investigation by BBC Hindi. In the 126 judgements, more than 80% have resulted in acquittals or discharges as the witnesses turned hostile. In many of these cases, police officials served as witnesses to the events, but the court did not find their testimonies credible.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.
