The Union Ministry for Home Affairs did very little to control the communal hate that occurred between February 23, 2020, and February 26, 2020, in Delhi’s north-east area which took away 53 lives (a majority of them being Muslims) and left hundreds injured, said a recent report written by four former judges and a former civil servant.
Titled ‘Uncertain Justice: A Citizens Committee Report on the North East Delhi Violence 2020’, the report focuses on the infamous Delhi riots in 2020 that took place in the backdrop of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests which rocked the country in 2019. It is authored by a citizens’ committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Madan B Lokur, including former judges AP Shah, RS Sodhi, and Anjana Prakash, and former Union home secretary G K Pillai.
According to the report, the Delhi police, which interestingly comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and not the Delhi state government, claimed that the situation was under control but the ground reality screamed otherwise.
The report mentions that even though the police control room received the maximum number of distress calls between February 24 and 25, police deployment was less.
“Though internal alerts circulated by the Delhi Police advised increased police deployment in North East Delhi on February 23 itself, official data shows that deployment rose only on 26 February,” the report said.
The report says that before the riots hit, there were many provocative speeches made by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members.
The current Union Minister of Information & Broadcasting and Youth Affairs and Sports, Anurag Thakur, and BJP leader Kapil Mishra made repeated speeches such as “desh ke gaddaro ko goli maaro saalo ko” inciting religious animosity towards the minorities.
Their repeated comparison of Muslim communities and those opposing CAA to ‘traitors’ fueled a narrative of hatred and friction leading to violence and arson, the report said.
The report also names six widely-viewed news channels – Republic TV, Times Now, Aaj Tak, Zee News, India TV and Republic Bharat – for their one-sided reportage, which was mostly in favour of the Union Government and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), now bill (CAB).
“The channels’ reportage of events surrounding the CAA framed the issues as ‘Hindus versus Muslims’ with prejudice and suspicion against the Muslim community,” the report said.
The report pulls up the Delhi Aam Aadmi Party government by stating that it did not provide timely relief and compensation. “The AAP government failed to exert the role of civic mediation and statesmanship to calm the situation,” the report said.
Lastly, the report strongly agrees that there is an urgent requirement to review the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. According to the report, UAPA is a “targeted application” by the government.
“UAPA accused are very often acquitted in their trials due to insufficient evidence, yet, forced to remain in custody, often for years. The law allows for prolonged pre-trial and custody and provides extremely limited grounds for bail. This ensures the legal process itself becomes punishment,” the report stated.
