Firozabad (Uttar Pradesh)/New Delhi: The families of five out of the seven men killed during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh (UP), on December 20, 2019, have found a ray of hope for justice after a local court disposed of the closure reports filed by the state police and registered ‘complaint cases’.
In this process, the complaint is filed either orally or in writing with the magistrate, who first examines the complainant and witnesses. If the judicial officer is satisfied that the complaint coupled with the examination discloses an offence, he/she takes cognisance of the offence. Subsequently, the accused/suspects are summoned during the trial.
The court order came after the counsel for the families challenged the police’s closure reports, filed a year after the incident. Dismissing the allegations that all seven men were killed after the police fired at anti-CAA protesters, cops in the final reports had stated that they were killed when “miscreants” fired indiscriminately during the stir.
“…. Thousands had gathered against the CAA/NRC. Meanwhile, the protest turned violent and miscreants opened haphazard firing. A bullet fired by a miscreant hit… Despite tireless efforts, he (the killer) could not be traced,” the police had said in the closure reports, which were termed “a bizarre and brazen lie” by the families.
Of the seven cases, the police filed a chargesheet in only one case wherein 12 men (all Muslims) were charged for allegedly causing death by negligence of one Rashid (Section 304A of the Indian Penal Code). All the accused are out on bail.
Rashid (27), who was handicapped and a resident of Kashmiri Gate area, died on the spot after being hit on the forehead. His post-mortem report suggests that he died of a stone injury. However, eyewitnesses and his family members and lawyer allege that he was shot by the police.
Contesting five of the six final reports, advocate Saghir Khan of the Association of Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) told the court that the seven men died when the police fired in the presence of the superintendent of police (city), circle officer, city magistrate and the concerned station house officer. Khan alleged that cops started firing following the superintendent of police’s order.
“The investigators deliberately did not carry out a fair and unbiased probe. As a result, the applicant was denied justice,” he told the court.
The court was also apparently dissatisfied with the police investigation and ordered a reinvestigation and registration of complaints in five cases.
“There seems to be a contradiction between the allegations levelled by the applicant and the facts on record. In this situation, the court is empowered to examine the statements of the complainants and the witnesses. In view of the facts and circumstances, registering the protest petition as a complaint case appears to be fair. Therefore, the final report is disposed of and the protest petition is registered as a compliant case,” the court noted in its order, passed in May, July and September.
Khan, who is fighting a lone battle, told Newsclick, “Out of the seven deaths, final reports were filed in six cases and a chargesheet in one. After we filed protest petitions against five of the six closure reports before the then-chief judicial magistrate, he ordered a reinvestigation into one and compliant cases in five cases.”
One of the deceased families, Khan added, has “accepted the final report in writing in the court”.
BOTCHED-UP PROBE, ‘HARASSMENT’ OF COMPLAINANTS
The reinvestigation was ordered in the case of Shafiq (45), who died on December 26, 2019, while undergoing treatment at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital.
According to his brother and complainant Nisar, as the violence broke out, Shafiq ran through the alleys at Masroor Ganj to ensure that his brothers are not standing on his newly constructed second house near Naini Chowraha, where protesters and the police were clashing.
This story was originally published in newsclick.in . Read the full story here