Five years after the deadly religious riots have swallowed the capital of India Delhi, there is no legal closure for people involved.
BBC Hindu Analysis has revealed that more than 80% of cases associated with violence in which the courts have made decisions resulted in release or discharge.
More than 50 people, Mostly MuslimsThey were killed after a conflict between Hindus and Muslims for the controversial citizenship law in February 2020. Violence – The most deadly city saw In decades – they extend for days, with hundreds of homes and shops that have set fire to the violent mafia.
BBC reported earlier Incidents of police brutality and compassionate during clutter. Police denied any injustice and in their investigation, claimed that violence was “pre -planned” as part of a greater conspiracy for “threatening Indian unity” by people who protested against the law.
They registered 758 cases related to the investigation and arrested more than 2,000 people. This included 18 student leaders and activists arrested in a case that became known as the “main conspiracy case”. They are charged according to a draconian anti -terrorist law, which makes it almost impossible to guarantee. Only six were released in five years and some like activists Umar Khalid They are still in prison, waiting for the trial to start.
BBC Hindi tested the status of all 758 cases submitted to the riot and analyzed 126 cases in which the Karkardooma court in Delhi made decisions.
More than 80% of these 126 cases resulted in the acquittal or discharge because witnesses became hostile or did not support the prosecution case. Only 20 of these cases saw beliefs.
According to the Indian Law, the accused is released when the court closes the case without trial because there is not enough evidence to go forward. The acquittal is when the court considers the accused not guilty after a complete trial.
In 62 of the 758 cases, which were filed on the accusation regarding the murder, there was only one condemnation and four acquittals, and the data to which the BBC had accessed through the Indian right to information on information.
A detailed analysis of 126 orders also showed that in dozens of cases, the court strongly demolished the police in Delhi for failure to investigate. In some cases, she criticized the police for the submission of “predetermined shootings” that “falsely interfered with” the accused.
In most 126 cases, police officers were presented as witnesses to events. But for various reasons, the court did not believe that their testimonies were credible.
The judges highlighted inconsistencies in police statements, delays in the identification of the accused by the police and, in some cases, have doubts about whether Officers were even present when violence broke out.
In two orders, the referee said that he could not “restrain” to say that when history referred to the riots, “the failure of the investigative agency to conduct an appropriate investigation” torture “” torture the democracy of democracy. ” The court listened to cases filed against three men on charges of fire and robbery – but concluded that they were arrested without any “real or effective investigation”.
Delhi police did not respond to the request of the BBC for comment. In a report submitted last April, the police told the court that all investigations were conducted in a “credible, honest and impartial” way.
However, the testimony of some accused and even their own perceptions of the court are asked questions about the investigation.
Shadab Alam, who spent 80 days in prison, says he can never forget the terror of clutter.
He took refuge on the terrace on the roof at the drug store where he worked with a few others.
Just hours earlier, the police arrived at the store and asked them to close it for a constant fire.
“Suddenly, they [the police] He came again and took a few to his van, “the BBC said.
When he asked the police why they were taking it, he said, they accused him of participating in the riots.
“We were asked by our names and beat us up. Almost all arrested were Muslims,” Mr. Alam said. He added that he filed his medical report before a court confirming three injuries.
In their official report, police accused Mr. Alama and 10 more Muslims of burning the trade. But the court fired them all and before the trial could begin.
In his observations, the court criticized the police investigation, saying that the witness statements could be “artificially prepared” and that “in all likelihoods” the trade was burned by the “mob of people from the Hindu community”.
It said the police did not follow the case in that direction, although he was present when the incident happened.
Mr. Alam had to wait four years for the case to be officially closed.
“All this happened during the Coid-19 pandemic. There were lockings. We were in a state of anger,” said Dilshad Ali, Alam’s father.
“In the end, nothing has been proven. But we had to spend so much time and money to prove our innocence.”
He said the family wanted a cash fee for their losses. “If the police have done a false case against my son, then the action should be taken against them,” he added.
In the second case, the court liberated Sandip Bhati, who was accused of withdrawing and beat the Muslim man during the mess.
Police have submitted two videos to show that Mr Bhati was the culprit. But in court, his lawyer said the police had filed an incomplete clip to frame his client.
In the whole video, which the BBC confirmed, Mr. Bhati was seen saving a Muslim man instead of beating him.
In his order in January, the court ruled that the police had “manipulated” a video of “framing” Mr. Bhati instead of following “real culprits.”
He also asked the Delhi Police Commissioner to take appropriate measures against the investigative officer in this case. Police did not answer the question of BBC Hindi about whether it was done.
Mr. Bhati, who spent four months in prison, refused to comment on saying that he did not want to talk about his “temptation”.
With so many judgments, former Supreme Court judge, although Lokur said, the prosecution and the police “should sit down to introspect what they have achieved in five years.”
He also said that “the responsibility must also be determined to the prosecution if the arrest is found to be illegal or unnecessary.”
“If the prosecution puts someone in prison because it has the power to do it or because they want it, they should not be allowed to get out if it is determined that the prison is illegally or unnecessary,” he added.
Even while some cases are falling apart in the courts, many of the arrested are still decaying in prison waiting for trial.
Gulfisha Fatima, a 33-year-old doctorate, is among 12 activists still in prison on charges that they are “conspirators” of clutter.
Her family said that three more police case had been filed against her and that she had received bail in all of them. But it still faces a prison sentence in the fourth case under the Law on illegal activities (prevention) (UAPA) – a strict anti -terrorist law that sets extremely challenging conditions for bail.
“Since she went to jail, we hope to come out with every hearing,” her father Syed Tasneef Hussain told the BBC.
In the case of Mrs. Fatima, after a months -long request for a guarantee, the Judge from the Delhi High Court was transferred in 2023, and now the whole case is again heard.
“Sometimes I wonder if I will see her or I will die before that,” Mr. Hussain said.
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