In a chargesheet filed before the court of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Rohini, the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police have confirmed that members of the Shobha Yatra passing through Jahangirpuri on Hanuman Jayanti were indeed armed. The incident took place on April 16.
Indian Express reports that the police have said that the Shobha Yatra members “carried firearms and other weapons”, however this was a “peaceful procession” until it was “confronted and attacked” by a gathering of Muslims.
Previous observations about police complicity by Additional Sessions Judge Gagandeep Singh
This is an interesting submission by the police, especially in wake of an observation by the Court of Additional Sessions Judge Gagandeep Singh earlier in May this year that prima facie the case reflected that the local staff of the Jahangirpuri police station, led by inspector Rajiv Ranjan as well as other officials, were accompanying the allegedly illegal procession on its route, instead of stopping it. The court had noted then, “It is fairly admitted 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. 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. 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.”
This story was originally published in sabrangindia.in . Read the full story here