Police investigation is meant to pin down
culprits, not to throw a safety net for them. FIRs are registered to bring the
offenders to book, not to settle scores with ‘inconvenient’ persons. Names are
included in charge-sheets on the basis of proof gathered during investigation,
not due to apparent political pressure from the powers-that-be. The Delhi
police probe into the riots that occurred early this year and its subsequent
moves in the case look like a sham, painstakingly worked out by the mandarins
who control the Capital’s police force. This has been exposed by none else but
an icon of Indian Police Service, Julio Ribeiro, former Mumbai police
commissioner who had also headed Gujarat and Punjab police, in a letter
addressed to the police chief of Delhi. His letter comes in the wake of the
inclusion of the names of CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, activist Yogendra
Yadav, economist Jayati Ghosh, Delhi University professor Apoorvanand and
others in a supplementary charge-sheet filed by the Delhi Police. It is another
matter that the same police were found missing in action when riots hit parts
of North-East Delhi.
The riots occurred in the wake of the
anti-CAA protests that rocked the nation. However, the protests were by and
large peaceful and no incidents of violence were reported from anywhere in the
Capital. Then came the provocative, communally-sensitive and incendiary
speeches by some of the BJP leaders. But the law-enforcing agencies looked the
other way. The rest is history. Fifty-three people, mostly belonging to the
minority community, were murdered; thousands were left homeless; and hundreds
of business establishments, mostly of Muslims, were torched. Ironically, a
majority of those put behind bars too belong to the minority community.
The Delhi police’s eagerness to bend over
backwards to please its bosses is nothing new. Earlier, a trial court in the
Capital had come down heavily on the police after it found its charge-sheet
“bereft of material”. The High Court too, while hearing a case related to the
riots, had castigated the police stating that it was “misusing the judicial
system and taking it for a ride.” The course of the probe seems to be directed
by those who control the police. A High Court judge who instructed the police
to take action against the BJP leaders, who spewed communal venom and incited
people to take to guns, was transferred in the dead of night. His order to the
police to file cases against those who incited violence too got scrapped.
The Delhi police has brought its slogan of
“with you, for you, always” under the shadow of doubt. Its overenthusiasm “to
entangle true patriots in criminal cases” is casting doubts on its course of
actions. Is the police going after the conspirators of Delhi riots or is it
weaving conspiracy theories according to the dictates of its political masters?
It may be unfair to single out Delhi police in acting unprofessionally. Police
force in every State has its hands blemished by this nexus with political
leadership. Delhi police probably takes the cake.
(Published on 21 st September 2020, Volume XXXII, Issue 39)
