On October 28, 2022, the Delhi High Court referred a number of cases requesting action against the Delhi Police for their alleged involvement in the violence at Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) in December 2019 to a Division Bench presided over by Justice Siddharth Mridul.
Late in 2019, Jamia was the site of demonstrations against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), during which Delhi Police officers stand accused of breaking into the university’s campus and library without authorization and beating up the students.
Several petitions were submitted, among them ones calling for the formation of a judicial commission to investigate the Jamia violence and the filing of first-information reports against the negligent police personnel. Nearly three years later, the case is still pending before the Delhi High Court.
Through the said petitions, the petitioners have not only demanded an impartial investigation of claims of police brutality, but also financial recompense for people who have suffered severe injuries as a result. On Friday, the Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramanium Prasad’s bench heard the appeals. Before this, the Supreme Court had passed an order on October 19, 2022, demanding that the High Court make a decision on the cases as soon as possible because the matter has been pending since 2019. The Bench was informed of this by the petitioners.
Speaking on behalf of the State, special public prosecutor (SPP) Rajat Nair also told the court that these cases are intrinsically linked to the group of cases involving hate comments made in Delhi during the CAA/NRC rallies that are thought to have caused the riots in February 2020. Nair argued that since these issues are already pending before the Division Bench II (Justice Mridul’s bench), they should also be transferred there.
The subject had previously been taken up by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aman Lekhi, but since he has subsequently resigned, it has been given to ASG SV Raju, the SPP further submitted.
The Bench sent the matter to the Bench headed by Justice Mridul with a request to decide it at an early date, as requested by the apex court. “This court has carefully gone through the order of the Supreme Court, the division bench is requested to decide the matter at an early date as directed by the Supreme Court,” a bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma ordered, as reported by LiveLaw.
The cases will now be heard on November 29 along with a batch of petitions seeking registration of FIRs against politicians for alleged hate speeches during 2020 Delhi riots.
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