Delhi riots: Can’t wait endlessly for forensic report, says High Court hearing anthem case
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday said it cannot wait “endlessly” for a forensic report connected to the death of a man allegedly forced to sing the national anthem during the 2020 riots and listed for April 3 an in-chamber hearing of a plea for an impartial probe.
The deceased’s mother Kismatun moved high court in 2020 seeking a court-monitored SIT probe into the death of her 23-year-old son Faizan. In a viral video, Faizan could be seen being beaten purportedly by policemen while being forced to sing the national anthem and ‘Vande Mataram’. While the Delhi Police counsel said forensic analysis of certain video footage was yet to be concluded by the National Forensic Sciences University in Gujarat which has now asked for similar hard disks for “reference”, the petitioner’s counsel asserted that the report is not central to the issue of directing a court-monitored SIT probe.
“I will have to put a stop to the whole forensic examination that is going on in Gujarat. I can’t wait for it endlessly,” said Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani. “They will carry on. I will not take a view of the forensic report. It (analysis) has to be within some reasonable time. This can’t be a never-ending process. The process has to end,” the judge added. The court observed that the analysis was pending for almost 10 months — first in Delhi and now in Gujarat — and questioned how providing fresh hard disks for “reference” would facilitate the process when the extraction of data from the DVR sent for examination was unsuccessful earlier. “How will that help? I am not an expert but there is something called common sense. This is a merry-go-round,” the court remarked.
Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad said he would proceed without waiting for the report any longer and urged the court to permit him to make submission in-chamber without the presence of the petitioner or her lawyer as the matter pertains to “wider investigation”. The court said it will first hold the in-chamber hearing in the absence of the petitioner and if it is found that the submissions pertain only to the deceased, the petitioner’s counsel would also be heard. Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for the deceased’s mother who is the petitioner, submitted that the forensic analysis report was not required for this plea and that the SIT can look into it once the matter is transferred to it. “It has been four years since my son was buried. Let me not bury my hopes for justice,” Grover said, alleging that the Delhi Police was not carrying out an impartial probe into the “custodial murder” as there have been no arrests or custodial interrogation despite the law not providing any “special protection” to the police.
