Delhi HC dismisses pleas seeking probes into 2020 Delhi riots, Jamia violence

The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed a batch of petitions seeking an independent probe into the 2020 North-East Delhi riots, along with pleas seeking FIRs against politicians over alleged hate speeches and action against police personnel accused of misconduct.

A bench of Justice Vivek Chaudhary and Justice Manoj Jain also dismissed petitions related to the December 2019 violence at Jamia Millia Islamia, where police were accused of excesses during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

"For the reasons mentioned in the judgments, both the petitions (batch) are dismissed," the bench said. The detailed judgments are expected to be uploaded shortly.

In the North-East Delhi riots cases, Shaikh Mujtaba had sought registration of FIRs against BJP leaders Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur, Parvesh Verma and Abhay Verma over their speeches.

Lawyers Voice had sought FIRs over alleged hate speeches by several leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Manish Sisodia, Amanatullah Khan, Akbaruddin Owaisi and Waris Pathan.

CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat had sought an independent probe into alleged excesses by police, Rapid Action Force personnel and other officials. Another petitioner, Ajay Gautam, sought an NIA probe into the alleged funding of anti-CAA protests, along with FIRs against political leaders over alleged inflammatory speeches.

The Supreme Court had earlier directed the High Court to decide one of the pleas expeditiously.

In the Jamia-related cases, students alleged that police assaulted them during the protests. One petitioner, Nabila Hasan, who was then a law student, had also approached the National Human Rights Commission.

The petitions sought an independent investigation and, in some cases, transfer of the probe from the Delhi Police to an outside agency.

The Delhi Police opposed the petitions, stating that it had collected and preserved CCTV footage from cameras installed inside and outside the university as well as in the New Friends Colony area.

The police also argued that transferring the investigation would widen the scope of the original proceedings.