Three years after the Northeast Delhi riots, retired judges, IAS officers and lawyers Friday spoke about the state’s accountability, and importance of independent reports for record keeping in the future, at a panel discussion on a report, ‘Uncertain Justice, a Citizens Committee Report on the North East Delhi Violence 2020’.
The report was released last year and the committee was chaired by Justice Madan B Lokur, former Supreme Court judge; A P Shah, former Chief Justice of Madras and Delhi HC; R S Sodhi, former judge of the Delhi HC; Anjana Prakash, former judge of the Patna HC; and G K Pillai, former Home Secretary. It relied on FIRs, chargesheets, court orders and media reports.
It states: “Delhi Police failed to take punitive measures against hate speeches made by political leaders and others in the run-up to February 23 or on the day itself”.
Justice Lokur said: “Accountability of police… needs to be fixed. If they bungle an investigation, they should be held accountable. Action is taken against citizens if they damage property… but why is no action taken against officers of the state? There are visuals available of police damaging property…”
Justice Shah said: “My grandfather was President of Hindu Mahasabha, and I grew up reading about Savarkar, and ideological positions taken by the Mahasabha on marginalisation, majoritarianism, and constitutionality, all of which I found deeply problematic… Despite being from a legal background, I don’t think coercion of law alone can stem this. We need to all join together to not only re-build, but re-envision a plural community.”
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com . Read the full story here