Five years after the Delhi riots in 2020, verdicts have been pronounced in only 109 of the 695 cases. Of these,82% or 90 cases have resulted in acquittal while 18% or 19 cases have resulted in conviction.
The riots that broke out on February 25, 2020, and continued for three days caused 53 deaths and more than 500 people were injured.
82% Of Cases Resulted In Acquittal
According to reports, 51 cases resulted in acquittals after 90 (57%), witnesses turned hostile.
In most of the cases of rioting or unlawful assembly, the witnesses failed to identify the accused.
Of 695 cases registered, the accused have been discharged for lack of prima facie evidence during the stage of charge, four cases have been quashed as the FIR was canceled and five cases were canceled and closure reports were filed.
Accused Discharged For Lack Of Evidence
As far as the 19 cases, that resulted in acquittal, courts noted that police identified the accused after considerable delay.
Besides, the testimonies became doubtful in the absence of police station records in many cases.
The police witnesses identified the accused in as many as 15 cases.
They said that they knew them before the riots broke out, but their testimonies did not stand the test of trial.
Witnesses Turn Hostile
The court noted in seven cases that the witnesses said during the cross-examination that they were “suffering from memory loss” or other illnesses. This made it difficult for the police to identify the accused and “was also taking medicine for the same”.
In three cases that resulted in acquittal, the police could produce only one public witness whose testimony the court found to be not substantive.
The court also castigated the police in one case by saying that the sole witness could have been tutored by the investigating officer.
How Did Riots Begin?
The riots began in North East Delhi area of Jaffrabad, where a sit-in by women against India’s Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 had been taking place for days on Seelampur–Jaffrabad–Maujpur road. BJP leader Kapil Mishra asked the Delhi Police to clear the roads and threatened to “hit the streets” if the police did the job. The violence erupted after his comment.
Kapil Mishra is a minister in the Rekha Gupta-led BJP governmet in Delhi now.
Two-thirds of those killed in the Delhi riots in 2020 were Muslims, and more than a dozen were Hindus.
