A Delhi Court on September 2 clears three accused in a case pertaining to the February 2020 communal riots in Delhi observing that the Delhi Police "miserably" fell short of proving any material that would justify the commencement of the trial.
Those discharged include Shah Alam, former AAP Councilor Tahir Hussain's brother. Hussain also stands accused of conspiring and inciting the riots in other cases. The other two accused are 23-year-old Rashid Saifi and 26-year-old Shadab.
"I am not able to restrain myself from observing that when history will look back at the worst communal riots since partition in Delhi, it is the failure of investigating agency to conduct a proper investigation by using latest scientific methods, will surely torment the sentinels of democracy," Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar Yadav said.
The court observed that the complainant and the victim were casualties because of the pain and agony they suffer. Their case remains virtually unsolved because of the callous and indolent investigation; lack of supervision by superior officers of investigation and criminal wastage of the taxpayers' time and money, the court said.
Also Read: Delhi Riots: Court Slams Delhi Police For "Very Poor" Standard Of Probe
Probe Agency trying to pull the wool over the court's eyes
"The sort of investigation conducted in the instant case and the lack of supervision thereof by the superior officers clearly depicts that the investigating agency has merely tried to pull the wool over the Court's eyes and nothing else," the judge added.
"The case appears to have been solved merely by filing this charge sheet without any real effort being made to trace out eyewitnesses, real accused persons, technical evidence."-Court
The court noted that despite investigating the matter for a long time, the Delhi police were able to show only five witnesses in the matter—the victim, constable Gyan Singh, one Duty Officer, a formal witness, and the probe officer.
"…This case is a colossal wastage of the hard-earned money of tax-payers, without there being real intent of investigating the matter," Judge Yadav added.
The court noted that no real or effective investigation was carried out in the matter. the probe was shown as "solved" after merely recording the statement of Constable Gyan Singh and that too at a belated stage, especially when the accused persons were already arrested.
The special judge, designated to try riots cases, said "this Court cannot permit such cases to meander mindlessly in the corridors of the judicial system, sweeping away precious judicial time of this Court when the same is open and shut case."
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Court Slams Delhi Police For "Very Poor" Standard Of Probe
This is not the first time ASJ Yadav has pulled up the police for their investigation in the Delhi Riots.
On August 28, the judge had slammed the Delhi Police observing that "in a large number of cases of [Delhi] riots, the standard of investigation is very poor". After filing "half-baked chargesheets in court, the police have hardly bothered about taking the investigation to a logical end," judge Yadav had observed.
Last month on July 13, the judge had observed that the Delhi Police investigation in a particular matter pertaining to February 2020 North-East communal riots was done in the "most casual, callous and farcical manner".
On April 26, the judge had said that in "several cases" of the Delhi Riots, the court had noticed a "complete lack of supervision of the investigation(s) by the senior police officers of the district".
Also Read: Delhi Riots Case: Court Pulls Up Police, Calls Probe Casual, Callous