2020 northeast Delhi riots: HC directs recording of ‘eyewitness’ statement in national anthem case

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday directed the recording of the statement of a youth who claimed to be an eyewitness to a 23-year-old man being forced to sing the national anthem and beaten up leading to his death during the 2020 northeast Delhi riots.

Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani, while hearing a petition seeking a court-monitored probe into the death, asked that the statement of “eyewitness” Mohd Wasim be recorded by the magistrate concerned in a week.

Counsel for Wasim, advocate Mehmood Pracha, sought to intervene in the proceedings and claimed he was the minor who was also beaten along with the deceased by policemen and was thus an eyewitness to the incident as well as the events that transpired later at the police station.

The counsel for the Delhi Police Amit Prasad said Wasim has not cooperated in getting his statement recorded despite being asked to do so.

“Let the applicant be produced before the magistrate concerned for recording his statement under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Let it be recorded in one week and a copy of the same be placed on record,” the court ordered.

The high court was hearing a petition by Kismatun, the mother of deceased Faizan, who has sought a court-monitored Special Investigation Team probe into the death of her son. Faizan, along with four other Muslim men, was seen in a video that had surfaced on social media after the incident.

In the video, Faizan was purportedly seen being beaten up by policemen while being forced to sing the national anthem and Vande Mataram’.

The woman has claimed that police illegally detained her son and denied him critical health care due to which he succumbed to injuries on February 26, 2020 after being released.