Delhi HC flags six-year delay in pleas linked to 2020 riot cases, seeks status report from police
NEW DELHI: Highlighting years of stagnation in a clutch of petitions linked to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the city police to place on record the latest status of the investigation. The direction came as the bench noted that several pleas — including those seeking criminal action against political leaders for alleged hate speech — have remained pending since 2020 without the petitioners invoking alternative statutory remedies available to them.
A division bench of Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Manoj Jain, while hearing multiple matters arising from the February 2020 communal violence, flagged the prolonged pendency. The judges orally observed that although an alternate remedy existed, “the petitioners have not availed it,” adding that the cases had remained before the court for six years.
During the hearing, counsel for one of the petitioners referred to the casualties in the riots. The bench responded that FIRs had already been registered and that the probe lay with the police, leaving little for the HC to adjudicate in the present writ petitions.
When the lawyer argued that the police were not conducting a fair investigation and urged the court to order an independent probe, the bench reiterated the proper legal course, “You challenge it before the magistrate. The magistrate will supervise. These are questions of fact. We cannot entertain questions of fact in writ petitions. You can give that evidence to the magistrate, who will look into it and pass orders. The HC cannot do this.” Listing the matter for November 21, the bench asked the Delhi Police counsel to submit details on the progress of the investigation and the total number of FIRs filed.