NEW DELHI: Several activists expressed concern on Friday whether the police’s investigation into the Delhi riots was a just ‘facade’ to arrive at pre-meditated conclusions. Swaraj India’s national president Yogendra Yadav, bureaucrat turned activist Harsh Mander, former JNU student Umar Khalid, DU professor Apoorvanand and student activist Kawalpreet Kaur, in a virtual press conference, highlighted the “continuing attempt by the Delhi Police to falsely implicate” activists of the anti-CAA movement as the masterminds of the February violence.
The draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was being used against people even without any official charges against them, said Yadav. “The Delhi Police believes there was a conspiracy behind the communal violence in February. We agree. But the actual conspiracy was a different one from what the police are propagating. Communal violence requires the creation of hatred. In Delhi, we saw a climate of hatred... with senior leaders targeting protesters,” said Mander.
The role of the police is essential to understand their complicity behind the violence, Mander added. “The police story is, of course, quite the opposite. Large numbers of young people are languishing in jails without bail,” he added. The activists said the Delhi Police was trying to implicate activists of the anti-CAA movement as the masterminds of the communal violence, and there was an attempt to crush voices of dissent. Khalid raised concerns on why police were silent on the alleged speeches made by BJP leaders which played a role in inciting violence in the capital.
“Does Delhi Police follow two sets of rules? Some people were spreading hate on ‘Facebook Live’. Why did the Delhi Police not probe them?” asked Khalid. The police are silent on the two incidents of shooting on protesters in Jamia Millia Islamia and Shaheen Bagh, said the activists.
“A video showed officials of the Delhi Police assaulting four brutally injured men, and forcing them to chant the national anthem. One of them subsequently succumbed to the injuries. Has the Delhi Police initiated any actions against its personnel who were involved in this assault?” the activists asked in a press statement.