NEW DELHI: A group of 72 concerned citizens, including former bureaucrats, lawyers and activists have written a letter to the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, seeking a probe into the Delhi Riots in February this year under a sitting or retired judge of the higher judiciary.
The letter mentions that a “credible and unbiased probe” in the violence which resulted in the loss of 53 lives, is necessary.
The violence in North-East Delhi took place between February 23 and February 26, and the Delhi Police has set up three Special Investigation Teams (SITs) led by its officials to conduct a probe into the matter. “The ongoing probe by the Delhi police, therefore, does not inspire confidence.
"With serious allegations against several senior police officials, of being complicit in the violence or assisting the mobs or standing mutely and watching the violence, there is bound to be a perception that the agency is shielding its own,” said the letter.
They also mentioned the report by the Delhi minorities commission saying, “It is equally concerning that a 10 member fact-finding committee constituted by the Delhi Minorities Commission to look into the riots, has suggested that the failure to prevent violence by Delhi police “was not due to individual or sporadic breaches, but was a pattern of deliberate inaction over several days.”
They said that a credible and unbiased probe is crucial to ensure public trust and the investigation cannot be allowed to become a fishing and roving expedition aimed at causing a chilling effect on dissent and protest in the country.
“We, therefore, call upon the Government of India to institute an inquiry into this investigation under the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952, by appointing sitting/retired judge(s) of the higher judiciary,” the letter said.
72 sign letter for action
The letter has been signed by personalities such as Aruna Roy (activist), Prashant Bhushan (lawyer), Anjali Bhardwaj (activist) and others. It mentions that a “credible and unbiased probe” in the violence which claimed 53 lives, is necessary. The violence took place in between February 23 and February 26.