NEW DELHI: On a plea seeking a court-monitored probe into the death of a youth who was forced to sing the national anthem and was brutally beaten up during Delhi riots, the Delhi High Court on Monday directed the recording of the statement of a man, claimed to be the eyewitness of the incident.
The video of the incident, showing a bleeding youth, later identified as 23-year-old Faizan, along with four Muslim men lying on the ground as some men forced him to sing ‘Vande Mataram’ and the national anthem, went viral during the riots.
Hearing the petition by Kismatun, the mother of the deceased, who has sought a court-monitored Special Investigation Team probe into the death of her son, Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani, asked that the statement of “eyewitness” Mohd Wasim be recorded by the magistrate concerned in a week.
Advocate Mehmood Pracha, who appeared for Wasim, sought to intervene in the proceedings and claimed he was the minor who was also beaten along with the deceased by policemen and was thus an eyewitness to the incident as well as the events that transpired later at the police station.
The counsel for the Delhi Police Amit Prasad said Wasim has not cooperated in getting his statement recorded despite being asked to do so. “Let the applicant be produced before the magistrate concerned for recording his statement under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Let it be recorded in one week and a copy of the same be placed on record,” the court ordered. The mother said that the police illegally detained her son and denied him critical health care due to which he succumbed to injuries on
February 26, 2020 after being released.
Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for the petitioner, played the video for the court and said there was a “targeted hate crime” against the deceased and a court-monitored investigation was required to rupture the “brotherhood of khaki” and fix accountability on erring officials.
“There are two sets of police officers who are responsible for the custodial death of Faizan,” argued Grover as she alleged that the deceased was first assaulted by a group of police personnel as seen in the video footage and later, illegally detained, further assaulted and denied medical care at the police station.
Rupture ‘brotherhood of khaki’: Counsel
Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for the petitioner, played the video for the court and said there was a “targeted hate crime” against the deceased and a court-monitored investigation was required to rupture the “brotherhood of khaki” and fix accountability on erring officials.