It's been more than two years since riots in North-East Delhi took place, a fatal example of communal violence that left 53 people dead and more than 200 others injured. A Delhi Court even described the riots as 'worst communal riots since partition'.
While the tussle between the Centre and the Delhi state government continues on who was responsible, two years have passed but the pain of losing their loved ones continues to haunt the kin of victims of the northeast Delhi riots, with many of them finding it difficult to make their ends meet.
What triggered the 2020 North-East Delhi riots?
The riots, which went on for three days, had erupted in northeast Delhi on February 24 after clashes between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled. As northeast Delhi became the epicentre of violence, clashes also broke out at Jaffrabad, Maujpur, Chandbagh, Khureji Khas, Bhajanpura, Dayalpur, Gokalpuri and other areas.
Out of the 53 people who lost their lives in the riots, two police personnel—IB officer Ankit Sharma and Delhi Police head constable Rattan Lal—were also killed.
An FIR was registered under various sections of the IPC, including rioting, armed with a deadly weapon against one Shahrukh Pathan for pointing a gun and shooting it in the direction of police. He caused injuries to police personnel and a gunshot injury was sustained by one Rohit Shukla by an armed mob in the Jafrabad area in North East Delhi.
2 years on, where does the investigation stand?
The Delhi Police formed three SITs in its Crime Branch to probe 62 important cases, including 53 cases of murder and rioting. A separate case was registered to unearth the conspiracy behind the riots, which was probed by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police while the remaining 695 cases were investigated by northeast district police, officials said.
Last month, a government job was handed to the brother of IB officer Ankit Sharma, who was killed in the 2020 northeast Delhi riots. Ankit Sharma's brother Ankur has been posted in the Education Department of the Delhi government.
Time and again, the Delhi High Court has denied giving bail to former JNU student Umar Khalid in a case of larger conspiracy in connection with Delhi riots during February 2020, saying there were reasonable grounds to believe that the accusations against him were prima facie true.
Do incidents of violence still take place?
Communal violence is not an uncommon sight now. On Hanuman Jayanti today, clashes broke out after stones were hurled at a 'Shobha Yatra' procession, being taken out in Delhi's Jahangirpuri. Several police officials were also injured. On Ram Navami as well, incidents of violence were reported from Madhya Pradesh's Khargone, Maharashtra's Mumbra and Delhi's Jawahar Lal Nehru University.
(With inputs from agencies)
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