NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Monday asked CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat to submit copies of FIRs as she sought an independent probe into the alleged excessive use of force by police personnel during the 2020 riots that broke out in the national capital.
Asking Karat to file the record electronic copies of the FIRs in relation to the Delhi riots which she sought to transfer to an independent body for investigation, the court placed the matter for further hearing on August 7.
“Please file a copy of FIRs in which you want us to direct an independent probe. Place it on record. (List on August 7) to enable the petitioner to place on record copies of subject FIRs,” a division bench headed by Justice Siddharth Mridul said.
Besides Karat’s petition, several pleas seeking FIRs against several political leaders for allegedly delivering hate speeches were also listed before the high court which directed all cases to be heard on the same date.
During the hearing, Karat’s counsel also mentioned a purported video from that time that showed some personnel allegedly beating Muslim youth while forcing them to sing the national anthem.
In July last year, the HC had allowed the impleadment of several politicians, including four BJP leaders — Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur, Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma and Abhay Verma — as well as Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, social activist Harsh Mander, actor Swara Bhasker, activist Umar Khalid among others as respondents to the batch of pleas.
Petitioner Shaikh Mujtaba Farooq has sought FIR for hate speech against BJP leaders Thakur, Kapil Mishra, Parvesh Verma, and Abhay Verma.
Communal clashes had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24, 2020, after violence between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled out of control leaving at least 53 people dead and around 700 injured.
‘Decide Shahrukh Pathan’s bail plea in a month’
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court Monday asked a trial court to decide within a month a fresh
bail plea by Shahrukh Pathan, who was seen in newspaper photographs pointing a gun at a policeman during the 2020 northeast Delhi riots.
The counsel for Pathan sought to withdraw his pending bail application from the high court and to approach the trial court for seeking relief as there is a considerable change in the situation.
Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma was informed by the counsel for the accused that his bail plea was pending before the high court since January 2022. He urged the high court to direct the trial court to hear and expeditiously decide Pathan’s bail petition.