New Delhi: A Delhi court on Monday, October 18, directed Delhi police to pay a penalty of Rs 25,000 for a delay in moving an application for the segregation of cases pertaining to the northeast Delhi riots which took place in February 2020, Live Law reported.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Arun Kumar Garg directed the sum be paid to the seven accused in the case, two of whom are in judicial custody, for the undue harassment this delay has caused.
Further, CMM Garg directed the Delhi commissioner of police to present a detailed report on the steps the latter has taken in ensuring proper investigation or prosecution of riots cases and their “expeditious trial” within seven days.
He went on to note that previous directions given by the court to the district commissioner of police for North East Delhi (DCP-NE), the joint commissioner of police and the Delhi police commissioner in relation to the riot cases have “fallen on deaf ears”.
The bench’s directions came while perusing a status report filed by an investigating officer (IO) which requested additional time for investigation along with a prayer to investigate the complaint of one individual, Faizan Khan, separately.
However, during the course of the hearing, the superintendent of police noted that additional time for investigation was required following a September 10 order passed by an Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) which stated that a complaint by one Akhil Ahmad, pertaining to the present case, cannot be read with the present FIR.
The CMM pulled up the discrepancy between the status report filed by the IO – and forwarded by the station house officer (SHO), Bhajanpura – which called for the case of Faizan Khan to be segregated and the statements in court by the police superintendent.
“There is no whisper in the aforesaid report regarding the segregation of [the] complaint of complainant Akhil Ahmad,” CMM Garg noted.
The superintendent also informed the court that the case diary had not been updated since September 10 and that a supplementary chargesheet on Faizan Khan’s complaint will be filed within the next three days.
Further highlighting the variance between the status report and the superintendent’s requests, the court remarked that the prosecution is “still not sure” as to how to proceed with further investigation and prosecution in the case and that “the only purpose for seeking permission for further investigation is to derail further proceedings in the present case,” India Legal reported.
The incident joins a long list of instances where courts have pulled up the Delhi police for the way they handled cases pertaining to the riots. ASJ Vinod Yadav had even imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on the Bhajanpura SHO and other senior officers for filing a revision petition on a court order which had directed the police to file an FIR on one Mohammad Nasir.
Meanwhile, ASJ Yadav, was among the 12 judicial officers who were transferred by a Delhi high court order dated October 6.
Also read: ASJ Vinod Yadav Transferred: 12 Instances Where the Judge Took on Delhi Police in Riots Probe
Regarding the case at hand, the court allowed the request to segregate Faizan Khan’s complaint, however, it also directed the police to pay the sum of Rs 25,000 as an adjournment cost to be divided proportionately among all seven accused in the case.
The court thus directed the Union home secretary to order an inquiry to fix the responsibility of the cost and deduct that cost from the salary of the responsible officer.
The matter has been listed for further hearing on November 20.