Delhi High Court asks police to state status of criminal cases arising from 2020 riots

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the city police to inform it about the status of criminal cases pertaining to the riots that broke out in the national capital in February 2020.

A bench headed by Justice Suresh Kumar Kait noted that over 750 FIRs were registered in the aftermath of the violence and the investigation in 273 was still pending, and asked the Delhi Police to file a fresh status report with respect to the cases.

"The respondent is directed to file current status report regarding the cases within 10 days," the bench, also comprising Justice Manoj Jain, ordered.

Communal clashes had broken out in North East 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.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation by Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind seeking setting up of Special Investigation Team (SIT) to hold an independent probe into the riots.

The lawyer said the SIT should be ordered at least in those cases where the stage of filing of charge sheet has not even come till now.

During the hearing, the court observed that the cases were registered in 2020 but several of them were still pending and asked the police the reason behind it.

How much time will you take? That was 2020 and we have entered 2024, the court said.

"Total cases registered is 757; transferred to crime branch 62; number of cases charge sheeted 367; number of cases pending trial 250 and pending investigation is 273. Therefore, pending cases are 273 as on April 2. So many cases," the court said.

The petitioner had approached the high court in March 2020 seeking several reliefs, including preservation of the CCTV footage of the riots in northeast Delhi.

The PIL has claimed that FIRs have not been lodged against persons responsible for the riots and alleged that the police is not accepting the complaint in which the accused are named and they are insisting to give complaint against unknown persons.

The matter would be heard next on April 29.

PILs by other petitioners seeking investigation by an independent body as well as FIRs against several political leaders for allegedly delivering hate speeches are also pending in the high court.