NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has observed that there was "utter failure" on the part of Delhi Police in stopping the unauthorised Hanuman Jayanti procession in Jahangirpuri last month that triggered communal clashes in the locality.
The court made the observation while rejecting a clutch of bail pleas, and said that the issue seems to have been simply brushed aside by senior officers, and complicity, if any, of police personnel needs to be investigated.
"The issue seems to have been simply brushed aside by the senior officers. The liability on the part of the concerned officials needs to be fixed so that in future no such incident takes place and the police is not complacent in preventing the illegal activities. Their complicity, if any, also needs to be investigated," Additional Sessions Judge Gagandeep Singh said.
The court directed that a copy of the order, passed on May 7, be sent to the Commissioner of Police for information and remedial compliance.
"It is fairly admitted, on behalf of the State that the last procession which was passing through, during which the unfortunate riots took place, was illegal having no prior permission from police," the judge said.
The court said that the sequence of events that took place on Hanuman Jayanti on April 16 and role of the local administration in preventing the incident and maintaining law and order needed to be seen.
The contents of the FIR itself show that the local staff of the police station in Jahangirpuri, as well as other officials were "accompanying the said illegal procession" on its route instead of stopping it.
"It appears that local police, instead of performing their duty in stopping the said illegal procession in the beginning itself and dispersing the crowd, was accompanying them to the entire route which later on led to unfortunate riots between the two communities," the judge said.
The court was hearing the bail applications, that claimed that the accused had been falsely implicated and were not present at the spot on the day of the incident.
While dismissing the bail pleas, the court also noted that material investigation in the case is still underway and several offenders who were allegedly involved in riots are yet to be apprehended.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police on Sunday said it would investigate the role of any man suspected of fomenting communal trouble despite his purported contribution to the restoration of peace in the area after the violence.
Northwest Delhi's Deputy Commissioner of Police Usha Rangnani made the assertion a day after the arrest of a Jahangirpuri resident, Tabrez Alam, accused of being involved in the Jahagirpuri violence though he was later seen acting as a member of the peace committee formed by the police.
During the investigation, if a person is found involved in the incident, action will be taken against him although he might have helped the force in urging the public to maintain peace and harmony, DCP Rangnani said.
The DCP made the statement after a video surfaced on social media showing Alam sitting among peace committee members with senior police officials and making appeals to the people to restore communal harmony.
The DCP said a piece of news is being circulated in media that accused Tabrez Alam has been arrested by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police for his alleged role in the April 16 riots in Jahangirpuri.
It is further being claimed that Tabrez was one of the members of the Jahangirpuri peace committee besides also being an organiser of the Tiranga Yatra held in the riot-hit area on April 20.
"In this regard, it is clarified that after riots in Jahangirpuri, police had a prime and a very focused role of establishing peace and order in the area, during which a large number of people of all communities were co-opted to appeal to the people to maintain peace and communal harmony," Rangnani said.
"Anyone from the area who approached the local police with the same idea was associated with the Aman Committee as a confidence-building measure with the community," she said.
"Investigation is independent of law and order and if the role of anyone is established during the investigation, the same is dealt as per law irrespective of the fact whether he has helped local police in establishing peace and harmony post riots in the area or otherwise," the DCP pointed out.