NEW DELHI: A court handling the Delhi riots cases has observed that the city police has done its work with utmost integrity and the investigation has not been done on communal lines. The court observed that while dealing with the cases related to the riots, it has noticed that members of both the communities have been arraigned as accused and have been chargesheeted by the police.
"Maybe some lapses have occurred during the investigation of these cases related to the riots, but even those lapses also don’t give any slightest indication that the investigation was not fair and impartial or that it was on communal lines," said judge Virendra Bhatt while hearing a bail matter related to Delhi riots case.
The court was hearing a bail application of one Arif who was part of a mob which had allegedly attacked one Alok Tiwari with rods, stones and bottles etc. thereby causing his death in February 2020.
Seeking bail for Arif, his counsel Mehmood Pracha argued that the riots had taken place at the instance of certain political vested interests to derail the peaceful protest which was going on against the newly promulgated CAA/NRC. He said that riots in northeast Delhi in the last week of February, 2020 were not actually communal riots.
"The riots had taken place at the instance of certain political vested interests to derail the peaceful protest which was going on against the newly promulgated CAA/NRC by the Parliament of India. He argued that only the persons belonging to Muslim community like the applicant herein were targeted by the police in the aftermath of the riots and were arraigned in false criminal cases," said Pracha.
Objecting to this, the court said that the submissions made by Pracha had not pointed out any material on record to substantiate his claim that the riots were not communal in nature or were the handiwork of any political party.
The court said that the submissions made by Pracha were not in good taste. "These are noted with immense disgust, repugnance and strong disapproval," the court added.
Court said that Pracha was painting the entire Delhi Police with a communal brush by saying that the criminal cases related to the riots had been fastened upon the members of Muslim community alone. The court dismissed the bail application of Arif and said that there was every likelihood that the applicant might approach or intimidate the only eye witness or might try to abscond, if released on bail.