Delhi riots: A post-mortem after five years

Does the name Khalid Saifi ring any bells? Unlikely. After all, he was just a social worker, one of those accused of plotting the riots in north-east Delhi in February 2020. The Delhi High Court has not yet been able to decide on his bail plea. Three different judges have heard his case, but were transferred each time a verdict was due. Each time, the case was argued afresh before a new judge after months of waiting.

Saifi has been granted bail on two charges. It is clear from the bail order that he was not in the rioting crowd. Yet, Delhi Police invoked the UAPA to make it difficult for him to get bail. This ensured his prolonged incarceration without a chargesheet being filed. Similar to the plight of most other people accused in the case, including Umar Khalid.

Public memory being short, it is worth recalling that in February 2020, 53 people were killed, several hundred injured and over a thousand houses burnt down in north-east Delhi. Disturbances were allowed to continue for four days. Court proceedings are now making it clear that not only did the Delhi Police fail to prevent the violence, the investigating police officers did a shoddy job. Several accused have been acquitted due to allegedly incomplete or biased investigation, lack of sufficient evidence and credible witnesses.

The police had registered 758 cases related to the rioting. Of these, one is registered in Special Cell, 62 in Crime Branch and 695 in various police stations of north-east Delhi. Out of the 2,619 people arrested, 2,094 are on bail. The courts have acquitted 183 people, struck down cases against 75 people and found 47 people guilty so far.

Despite four-and-a-half years having passed, the investigation in 268 cases remains incomplete. The police requested the court to close 57 cases registered in various police stations, of which the court has accepted the closure report for 43. As many as 11 out of the 12 accused in the Dilbar Negi murder case were acquitted. There was no concrete evidence against them or witnesses identifying them as rioters.

WhatsApp chats: transcripts reveal all — to no avail

A ‘Kattar Hindu Ekta’ (hardcore Hindu unity) WhatsApp group was created at 12.49 pm on 24 February 2020. As many as 125 people were associated with this group. The Delhi Police submitted transcripts in the court of all the chats between 24 February and 8 March. The conversations revolved around the RSS, BJP’s Kapil Mishra, the urgency of setting mosques on fire and installing idols, arranging guns, pistols and bullets, elaborate plans to target and kill Muslims and misbehave with their women. Delhi Police have failed to establish that this group engineered the riot.

This was a glaring omission as the transcripts appeared to confirm the involvement of the RSS which reached the spot in support of the mob.

Between 25 February 2020 and 26 February 2020, chilling messages confirmed that Mursaleen was assaulted by the mob, his scooter burnt and his body thrown in the Bhagirathi Vihar drain near Johripur puliya. Aas Mohammad, who was coming on foot from Loni, was stabbed and thrown in the same drain. Electricity supply in the area was cut off. Musharraf was dragged out of his house and cut to pieces and his body, too, was thrown in the drain, as were Amin and Bhure Ali alias Salman.

At 9.15 pm, Hamza’s hands and legs were broken and he was thrown in the drain, half-dead. Aqeel Ahmed was killed and thrown in the drain. Hashim Ali and his brother Aamir were killed and their bodies were thrown in the drain.

The messages were explicit: I am in Ganga Vihar. If any Hindu needs me, please let me know. We are fully prepared. We have all the weapons. Can we get .315 bore cartridges? Do you have an extra pistol? Your brother just killed two mullahs…

The chargesheet says that this mob caught people, made them chant ‘jai Shri Ram’, checked their Aadhaar cards and then killed them. As many as eight of the nine young men arrested in this case are just 19-23 years old. They confessed to committing nine murders in about 30 hours. However, they have not been charged with any organised crime or conspiracy to incite riots. Why?

RSS links: established and ignored

One of the FIRs lodged by the Delhi Police relate to the involvement of people associated with the RSS. On 25 February, around 7.00 pm, after namaaz, Sahil Parvez’s father was kicked, pickpocketed and murdered in front of him. Sahil Parvez’s complaint mentions Devesh Mishra, whose name is not even mentioned in the chargesheet.

Mishra, who recently joined the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, has been associated with the Sangh since 1996, and has been the RSS Yamuna Vihar district in-charge for the past eight years.

Among the other people who have been arrested, Uttam has been a Sangh pracharak for the longest time. His brother Naresh Tyagi is a regular and active member of the Sangh. Accused Hari Om Mishra organised shakhas every morning in North Ghonda. Maths teacher Rajpal Tyagi is known to attend shakha every morning at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Park.

Other names include Atul and Virendra Chauhan, Deepak Kumar and Sushil, all of whom have been going to RSS shakhas. But the Delhi Police failed to press serious charges against the group, allowing courts to let them off, dismissing charges of any organised or pre-planned crime.

Delhi Police: guilty as charged

In several cases, the police failed to establish the involvement of the accused. Instead, Faisal Farooq, director of Rajdhani Public School, which was set on fire, was sent to jail by the police. Apparently it was at Farooq’s behest that the rioters had deliberately vandalised the school next to it (D.R.P. Convent School), two parking spaces and Anil Sweets. On 20 June 2020, Judge Vinod Yadav, who granted bail to Faisal, pointed out discrepancies in witness statements and that the investigating officer had recorded a supplementary statement in order to fill in the blanks.

"The investigating officer did not talk to any of these people… apart from allegations, there is no concrete evidence on the basis of which it can be proved that Faisal had spoken to these people about the Delhi riots," recorded the court order.

Earlier, on 29 May 2020, while granting bail to Feroz Khan, Delhi High Court asked the police: how could they identify only Feroz and one other accused when the FIR mentioned an unlawful crowd of 250–300 people? Feroz Khan was granted bail.

The Delhi Police is also guilty of ignoring the findings of the Delhi Minority Commission and a citizens’ commission headed by retired Supreme Court judge Madan V. Lokur. Findings recorded by two other organisations were also not taken seriously.

Compensation: discriminatory, delayed or denied

The Delhi Minority Commission under the Delhi government had constituted a nine-member committee to inquire into the riots. The chairman of this committee was Supreme Court lawyer M.R. Shamshad.

The committee studied 700 applications for compensation and found that in most cases, the site of damage was not even visited. In those cases where loss of life and property was found to be true a meagre amount was given as interim assistance. Many people who had fled from their homes could not apply for compensation.

The amounts were discriminatory. The death of a government official merited a compensation of Rs 1 crore, whereas the death of ordinary mortals merited only Rs 10 lakh. The responsibility of maintaining law and order in Delhi lies with the Central government, yet the victims of the riots received no help from it.

The role of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of Delhi has been disappointing. Despite constituting the North-East Delhi Riots Claims Commission (NEDRCC) in April 2020, as many as 2,790 claims still remain unresolved.

On 25 August 2022, lieutenant-governor Vinay Kumar Saxena appointed 40 new loss assessors to expedite the settlement of claims. They were asked to compile reports assessing the extent of financial losses and submit them to the Delhi High Court. LG Saxena also directed the existing 14 assessors to submit their reports within three weeks.

It seems some of the 40 new assessors were not aware of their assignments. Many did not even start work. Commission officials say they could contact only five out of the 40 members appointed by the LG.

Who should be held responsible for these acts of omission and commission?