Amnesty International, an international non-governmental organization working on human rights, has released its independent inquiry report on the riots in north-east Delhi in February this year.

The report accuses the Delhi Police of not stopping the riots, joining them, refusing to ask for help over the phone, preventing the victims from reaching the hospital, especially assaulting the Muslim community.

Citing intimidation, intimidation of riot victims and peace-loving agitators in the six months following the riots, jailing and registering cases against them, the report also underscores that not a single case of allegations of human rights violations on Delhi Police I have not registered an FIR yet. The Delhi Police works under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

According to Amnesty International executive director Avinash Kumar, "This protection from the power side gives the message that law enforcement officials can violate human rights without accountability." That is, they can run their own law. ''

Before releasing the report, Amnesty International approached the Delhi Police to find its side but no response was received for a week.

In March, Delhi Police Joint Commissioner of Police Alok Kumar, in an interview with BBC Hindi correspondent Salman Ravi, denied the allegation of police being a silent spectator during the riots and said, "If any allegations against police personnel come forward. They will be investigated if they come ''.

Earlier, the Delhi Minorities Commission also released a fact-finding report on the Delhi riots in July.

In this too, many victims had complained of not registering FIRs of police, threatening to compromise and making them accused in other cases by accusing them of violence.

At the same time, the Delhi Police was accused of falsely presenting a riot between two communities instead of plotting to target the Muslim community. The Delhi Police also did not answer any questions from the Commission.

Role of Delhi Police before riots

The report by Amnesty International is based on a study of 50 riot victims, eyewitnesses, lawyers, doctors, human rights activists, conversations with retired police officers and videos of people made.

It first mentions allegations of assault and sexual harassment from students protesting against the Delhi Police's Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at Jamia Millia Islamia University on 15 December 2019.

The Delhi Police has opposed the PIL in the Delhi High Court to set up a special investigation team to investigate this incident.

Subsequently, on January 5, 2020, Jawaharlal Nehru University is reported to have vandalized Rods and assaulted nearly two dozen students and teachers.

In this case, even after more than 40 complaints were filed by the students and teachers of JNU, the Delhi Police has not registered a single FIR.

However, FIRs were lodged against some anti-CAA protesters who were injured in the assault, including Aishi Ghosh of JNU Students Union. The report also gives information about the provocative speeches of BJP leaders in several election rallies held in the month of January before the Delhi Assembly elections.

On 26 February 2020, the Delhi High Court orders the Delhi Police to file an FIR against BJP MPs and leaders, Kapil Mishra, Parvesh Verma, Anurag Thakur, under a 'Conscious Decision' (Socha Sekhla Judgment). No FIR has been registered against one of them so far.

In July, in an interview to BBC correspondent Divya Arya, Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi admitted that inflammatory speeches were wrong, we are against all such statements that are provocative, defame the country and secular character Are going to damage We are against all this. Whatever done, wrong done. I am against him. We have not and should not justify such poisonous statements.

Role of Delhi Police during riots

In the Amnesty International report, many riot victims have claimed in their statements that when they called the emergency number 100 of Delhi Police, no one picked it up or retorted, "Freedom was wanted, now take it Freedom. ''

'What do we want? The slogan 'Azadi' was used in anti-CAA demonstrations and according to the agitators, there was talk of freedom from discrimination and atrocities.

The report includes videos of five young men being shot by police and a conversation with the mother of one of them who claims that her son was jailed for 36 hours from where he died after being released.

According to the mother, he was not given any documents of the custody of the son, nor according to the law, the son was produced before the magistrate within 24 hours of his detention.

The report also details cases of police remaining mute spectators during the riots and in some cases engaging in stone pelting and preventing victims from reaching hospitals.

Most of the 53 people killed in the riots are Muslims and their homes and shops have suffered more damage than the Hindu community.

According to the report, when he spoke to a Hindu caretaker of a school, he did not call for help even after repeated calls to the police, but at the same time adopting a sensitive attitude towards the police, that he could not come to help. There were rioters stopping the way.

The same liberal attitude towards the Delhi Police is also seen in the report 'Daily Writers: Conspiracy Unrevealed', a report of a trust named 'Center for Justice' (CFJ), submitted to Home Minister Amit Shah, describing the riots as anti-Hindu.

Role of police after riots

Unlike earlier reports on riots, Amnesty International's investigation also looks into the police investigation after the riots and accuses them of arresting and taking large numbers of Muslims after the riots.

Citing the arrests of human rights activist Khalid Saifi for demonstrating in February, it has been claimed that he was in a wheelchair in March due to his treatment in police custody.

Saifi has been in jail for six months. He has been arrested under UAPA law.

The report contains statements of several riot-victims, including allegations of torture at the hands of the police and forcibly making false statements, coercion, signing blank paper.

There is also a statement by the lawyer of a non-governmental organization, 'Human Rights Law Network', which accuses him of preventing him from talking to his client, misbehaving with the police and lathicharge.

On July 8, an order of the Delhi Police, which wrote that the arrests related to the Delhi riots "need to be taken care of" so that it does not "hurt Hindu sentiments", but the Delhi High Court lambasted the police. .

The court had not quashed the order, but argued that "the investigating agencies have to take care that there is no discrimination against the instructions given by the senior officers which is wrong under the law".

Amnesty International has demanded with the details of the last six months that the investigation and accountability of the action of the Delhi Police should be fixed and the Police Department should be trained to work in times of communal tension and violence.

The Delhi Police's response to the allegations made in this report is awaited. The report will be updated on getting a statement from the police.

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