The committee went through 752 of the 758 FIRs filed in connection with the Delhi riots, and studied the police’s investigation in the same.
(Photo: Erum Gour/The Quint)

By FATIMA KHAN . The Quint

In many cases pertaining to the 2020 Delhi riots, the witnesses produced by the Delhi police have been found to be unreliable or planted, a newly published report by the former Supreme Court and High Court judges has said.

In its 171-page long report titled ‘Uncertain Justice: A Citizens Committee Report on the North East Delhi Violence 2020’, a chapter has been dedicated to the investigations carried out by the Delhi police and the discrepancies found. The committee went through 752 of the 758 FIRs filed pertaining to Indian Penal Code (IPC) offences in connection with the violence, in which 53 people died and several others were injured or had their properties damaged.

The Quint had earlier reported on the details and key takeaways of the report.

The committee that has authored the report consists of Justice Madan B. Lokur, former Judge of the Supreme Court, Justice AP Shah, former Chief Justice of the Madras and Delhi High Courts and former Chairman of the Law Commission, Justice R.S. Sodhi, former Judge of the Delhi High Court, Justice Anjana Prakash, former Judge of the Patna High Court, and G.K. Pillai, former Home Secretary, Government of India. Justice Lokur is the chairperson of the committee.

How Courts Questioned The Belated Witness’ Statements

The report has cited from several court orders, where police witnesses have shown unaccounted delay in naming and identifying assailants.

For instance, in October 2020, Court of Additional Sessions Judge granted bail to three accused men: Shah Alam, Rashid Saifi, and Mohd. Shadab, arrested in FIR No. 109/2020.

The committee cites the court observation as follows:

“The identification of applicants by Beat Constable Pawan is hardly of any consequence, as this Court is not able to understand as to why said Beat Constable waited till 05.04.2020 (when his statement U/s 161 Cr.P.C was recorded by the IO) to name the applicants, when he had categorically seen and identified the applicants indulging in riots on the date of incident, i.e 24.02.2020. There is gap of about 40 days between the date of incident and recording of statement of Beat Constable Pawan in the matter by the IO and no plausible explanation in this regard has been given by the IO. Being a police official, what stopped Beat Constable Pawan from reporting the matter then and there in the PS (Police Station) or to bring the same in the knowledge of higher police officers. This casts a serious doubt on the credibility of this witness.”
This story was originally published in thequint.com . Read the full story here