The Delhi riots in February this year left 53 dead, 200 injured and hundreds homeless.
New Delhi:
Fifteen people, all linked to protests against the center’s controversial new citizenship law and none from the campaign in its favor, have been named by police in a comprehensive charge sheet filed for the Delhi riots that ravaged the capital city in February this year, leaving more than 50 people dead and property worth millions of rupees damaged.
The 17,500-page presentation in two steel trunks included more than 2,600 pages detailing the charges against the defendants and thousands of pages of exhibits. The charges include those under the strict Law on Prevention of Illegal Activities against Terrorism.
Among those named are the suspended AAP councilor Tahir Hussain and several student activists. Police also said their investigation into the case is ongoing and they hope to file a supplemental charge sheet against the defendants who have not been named so far.
“These conspirators were in direct contact with the infantrymen that resulted in the riots in northeast Delhi in February,” police told the court, adding that two WhatsApp groups were used to engineer the riots in Seelampur and Jafrabad that they saw some of the worst. violence.
“The conspirators planned the riots while the middle circle of leaders at the area level executed the plan through the infantrymen,” police said, alleging that the students walked about 20 km to participate in the protests.
“This was not a democratic protest from the beginning. The very beginning of this protest was for instigating violence,” police told the court, pointing to the “chakka jam” or barricades as an undemocratic form of protest and with the intention of inciting to violence.
Community violence over the center’s controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) had broken out in Delhi among groups that supported and opposed the law that promised citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from three neighboring countries, widely seen as discriminatory.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with US President Donald Trump just a few miles away, parts of the city were engulfed in violence and widespread clashes, arson and stoning took place that left 53 dead, at least 200 injured and hundreds homeless.
The Delhi Police, which is dependent on the central government and whose role during the riots is also under scrutiny, has been criticized for arresting only members linked to one side of the clash while refuting reports that police were seen actively helping the other. side during the riots.
Among those arrested in the case are left-wing student activists and Tahir Hussain, who opposed the CAA, while those not arrested include BJP’s Kapil Mishra, seen on video standing next to a police officer and threatening to “leave. to the street “if the protesters were not cleared.
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