NE Delhi Riots: PUDR Demands Status Report, FIRs Be Made Public

The civil liberties and democratic rights organisation condemns ‘this blatant attempt to actively derail justice’.

The riot-affected northeast Delhi on 26 February. (Image for representation)

(Photo: PTI/Manvender Vashist)

The People Union for Democratic Rights on 12 May put out a list of points regarding Delhi Police’s investigation into the north-east Delhi riots.

PUDR said, “If recent media reportage of the investigation and prosecution in the riot -related cases is to be followed, the impression conveyed is that a group of persons, mostly Muslims, were responsible for the riots and the many acts of gruesome violence in it, in which the majority of those affected were also Muslims. While there has been no sharing of information with the media on the progress of the vast majority of the ‘over 700’ FIRs registered, the police have however put forward (through the selective pursuit of a particular line of investigation) the theory of an alleged ‘conspiracy’ that sees the riots as the handiwork of Muslims and anti-CAA protest organisers.”

The civil liberties and democratic rights organisation said that they condemn “this blatant attempt to actively derail justice by re-scripting the truth of the NE Delhi riots, under the active aegis of the State. Based on its own fact-finding investigation, interviews with victims and lawyers, media reports and official statements, PUDR would like to draw attention to the following points”.

These points include the Delhi Police’s ‘cherry-picking of FIRs to construct their own narrative’, the frightening scale of the speed and lack of transparency and the problematic ways and discrepancies in which the FIRs have been written.

PUDR has listed various demands which include that the arrests, detentions or interrogations being done by Delhi Police be stopped immediately. That all FIRs be made public and distortions rectified and that there be transparency and fairness in investigation.