2020 Delhi riots: court orders to frame charges against 25 people

New Delhi: In the case of the killing of a Head Constable, Ratan Lal, during the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots, a Delhi court ordered the framing of charges for the offences of murder, arson, and dacoity against 25 accused, The Indian Express (TIE) reported.

The court, however, discharged the two accused after it could not find any credible evidence against them.

Delhi police named 27 people as accused in the case, in which a riotous mob attacked a police team at the Chand Bagh protest site on February 24 2020. This happened when the mob was stopped from blocking the Wazirabad main road.

The court of Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala observed in its 115-page order, “The Constitution does not vest right to any protester, to use violence or to assault anyone or to murder anyone or to damage any property or to rob anyone. Therefore, the argument that this accused was exercising his constitutional rights is totally misconceived,” TIE quoted.

It added, “The protesters not only gathered to show protest against CAA/NRC, rather they came well equipped with weapons with a mindset to use the same against the police force.”

The murdered policeman, Lal’s post-mortem report, showed that he sustained a firearm wound along with 21 other external injuries. Those injured in the entire riots include the then deputy commissioner of police (DCP) and assistant commissioner of police (ACP), 50 other police personnel, among 700 people. The number of casualties that happened during the riots was 50.

The court said that the attack on police appeared to be a part of a well-thought strategy since “…the attempt to block Main Wazirabad Road on February 23, 2020, was neutralised by police, the emphasis on joining the protest in large numbers on February 24 and carrying weapons shows that the organisers and speakers of the protest framed a clear-cut mindset to attack upon police force.”