New Delhi: Retired senior policeman and former Indian Ambassador to Romania Julio Ribeiro has written to the Delhi Police commissioner, S.N. Shrivastava, questioning the probe into the Delhi riots cases. He has said that the Delhi Police is taking action against “peaceful protestors”, while ignoring senior Bharatiya Janata Party who made provocative, communal public speeches in the build-up to the violence.
“True patriots” are being entangled in criminal cases, he argues. He has urged Shrivastava to revisit the Delhi Police’s probe in these cases.
Read the full text of Ribeiro’s letter below.
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Dear Shri. Shrivastava,
I write to you with a heavy heart. As a true patriot and a former proud member of the Indian Police Service I appeal to you to ensure a fair probe into the 753 F.I.Rs registered against peaceful protestors who rightly apprehend injustices born from bias and hate against a minority community.
The Delhi Police has taken action against peaceful protestors but deliberately failed to register cognizable offences against those who made hate speeches which triggered the riots in N.E. Delhi. It troubles sane and apolitical persons, like me, why Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur and Parvesh Verma have not been arraigned before the Courts of law while deeply-hurt Muslim women, peacefully protesting against discriminations based on religion, were lodged for months together in jail!
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The not-so-subtle attempt by the Delhi Police to entangle true patriots, like Harsh Mander and Prof. Apoorvanand, in criminal cases is another matter for concern. We, the police forces in the land, and its leadership drawn from the Indian Police Service, have a duty and obligation to respect the Constitution and the enacted laws, impartially without regard to caste, creed and political affiliations.
Kindly revisit the actions of the police under your command in Delhi to determine if they have been true to their oaths taken at the time of their induction into service.
Yours sincerely,
Julio Ribeiro
I.P.S. (Retd.) 53 MAH