Why many police cases are falling apart

Five years after the deadly religious riots, the capital of India, Delhi, has not been overwhelmed by a legal closure on the horizon for the persons concerned.

The British Indian Broadcasting Corporation analysis has found that more than 80 % of violence -related cases, as the courts submitted decisions that led to acquittal or discharge.

More than 50 people, Most of them are MuslimsThey were killed after the outbreak of clashes between Hindus and Muslims due to the controversial citizenship law in February 2020. Violence – The bloodiest city has seen In decades – it spanned for several days, with hundreds of homes and shops in which fire was buried by violent mob.

The British Broadcasting Corporation has previously reported Police brutality and collusion during riots. Police denied that any violations were committed and in their investigation, claiming that the violence was “previously planned” as part of a greater conspiracy “to threaten the unity of India” by the people who were protesting the law.

They recorded 758 cases in the investigation and arrested more than 2000 people. This included 18 leaders and activists who were arrested in a case that became known as the “main conspiracy issue”. They were accused by the Draconian Anti -Terrorism Law, which makes almost impossible to obtain a guarantee. Six of them were released only within five years, some of which are the activist Omar Khaled She is still in prison, pending the start of the trial.

The Indian BBC examined the case of all 758 cases presented in relation to riots He analyzed the 126th case in which the Carrardoma Court in Delhi made the decisions.

More than 80 % of these 126 cases led to vaporization or discharge, and witnesses have turned into anti -anti -claim, or they did not support the prosecution issue. Only 20 of these cases witnessed condemnation.

Under Indian law, the accused is emptied when the court closes a case without trial because there is not enough evidence to move forward. The innocence is when the court finds that the accused is not guilty after a complete trial.

In 62 of 758 cases that were brought on charges of killing, there was only one condemnation and four towers, data accessed by the BBC through the law of right in India.

A detailed analysis of 126 orders also showed that in dozens of cases, the court fell hard on the Delhi police due to the lapses in the investigations. In some cases, the police were criticized for providing “pre -specific surveys”, which “was involved in the” accused.

In most of the 126 cases, police officials were presented as witnesses to the events. But for various reasons, the court did not find its credible certificates.

The judges have pointed to contradictions in the police statements, and the delay in identifying the accused by the police, and in some cases, he doubts whether it is The policemen were present even when the violence broke out.

In two things, the judge said that he could not “curb himself” by saying that when history looks at the riots, “the failure of the investigation agency to conduct an appropriate investigation” will lead to “the torment of the guard of democracy.” The court heard the cases against three men on charges of intentional burning and looting – but it concluded that they had been arrested without any “real or effective investigation.”

Delhi police did not respond to the BBC’s request for comment. In a report submitted last April, the police told the court that all investigations were conducted in a “reliable, fair and fair” manner.

However, testimonies from some of the accused and even private court notes raises questions about the investigation.

Shadab Allam, who spent 80 days in prison, says he could not forget the horror of riots.

He had taken over the surface of the roof surface on the roof where he worked with a few others.

Just hours ago, the police arrived at the store and asked them to close it due to continuous deliberate burning.

“Suddenly, they are [the police] He came again and took a few of us in their truck. “

He said that when the police asked why he took him, they accused him of participating in riots.

Allam said: “They asked our names and beat us. We have almost arrested almost all of the Muslims,” ​​Allam said. He added that he submitted his medical report before the court, which confirmed three injuries.

In its official report, the police accused Mr. Allam and 10 other Muslims by burning a store. But the court came out even before the trial began.

In its observation, the court criticized the police investigation, saying that the witness’s statements could have been “artificially prepared”, and that it was “at all possibilities”, the store was burned by “mobs from people from Hindu society”.

She said that the police did not follow the case in this direction, despite its presence when the accident occurred.

Mr. Allam had to wait four years until the case was officially closed.

“All this happened during the Covid-19 pandemic. There was a lock. We were in a frenzy.”

“In the end, nothing was proven. But we had to spend a lot of time and money to prove our innocence.”

He said that the family wanted to compensate for their losses. “If the police filed a wrong case against my son, action should be taken against them,” he added.

In another case, the Sandip Bhati court, who was accused of withdrawing and beating a Muslim man during riots.

The police had presented two video clip to show Mr. Bahti was the perpetrator. But in court, his lawyer said the police had presented an incomplete clip to frame his client.

In the full video, with the BBC, Mr. Bhaati was seen saving the Muslim man instead of hitting him.

In its order in January, the court ruled that the police “manipulating the” video “with the framework of” Mr. Bahi “instead of following the” actual perpetrators “.

He also asked the Delhi Police Commissioner to take appropriate measures against an investigator in the case. The police did not answer the Indian BBC question about whether it was done.

Mr. Bahti, who spent four months in prison, refused to comment, saying he did not want to discuss his “ordeal.”

Madan Lucur, the former Supreme Court judge, said that the prosecution and the police “must sit to contemplate what they have achieved within five years.”

He also said that “accountability must be fixed on judicial prosecution if it turns out that detention is illegal or unnecessary.”

“If the prosecution puts a person in prison because they have the ability to do this or because they want to do so, it should not be allowed to stay away from it if it turns out that the prison is illegal or unnecessary.”

Even with the collapse of some cases in the courts, a lot of their arrest is still in prison awaiting trial.

GULFISHA Fatima, a 33 -year -old doctoral ambition, out of 12 activists who are still in prison for “conspirators” of riots.

Her family said that three other police cases were presented against her and obtained a guarantee for all of them. However, it continues to confront the prison in a fourth case under the Law of illegal Activities (Prevention) – the strict law to combat terrorism, which defines very difficult conditions for bail.

Her father, Sayyid Tasnif Hussein, told the BBC: “Since I went to prison, with every hearing we hope you will finally go out,” her father, Sayed Tasnif Hussein, told the BBC.

In the case of Mrs. Fatima, months after the warranty call was heard, the judge was transferred from the Supreme Court in Delhi in 2023, and now the entire case will be heard again.

Mr. Hussein said: “Sometimes I wonder if I was going to see it or what I would die before that.”

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