Citizens can proactively help Delhi riot victims and survivors get justice

Image Courtesy:thehindu.com

India’s pioneering IPS, IAS, eminent former judges had come together last month and volunteered to probe the North East Delhi violence of February 2020, including the role of Delhi Police, and its aftermath. The Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), a group comprising eminent, former bureaucrats, with decades of experience working with state and central governments, and jurists who have delivered landmark judgements have set up a “Citizens Committee on the Delhi Riots of February 2020: Context, Events and Aftermath”.

The six member committee, of eminent citizens whose professional reputation is recognised all over the country, and abroad, will put together an updated, “contemporary record of acts of omission and commission” that have been observed during and after the Delhi riots of February 2020.

They are:

Justice Madan Lokur (Chairperson, former Supreme Court judge)
Justice AP Shah (Former Chief Justice of the Madras and Delhi high courts, and former Chairman, Law Commission)
Justice RS Sodhi (Former judge of the Delhi High Court)
Justice Anjana Prakash (Former judge of the Patna High Court)
GK Pillai (Retired IAS, former Union Home Secretary)
Meeran Chadha Borwankar (Retired IPS officer, former Director General Bureau of Police Research and Development)

The CCG is an independent, non-political group that works to foster a civic culture bound by the ethos of the Constitution. The Citizens Committee has now issued a Public Notice “inviting all persons, in confidence,” who have any information and material pertaining to Delhi riots to send such information and material,” in as much detail as possible, to the Committee. Based on a perusal of this information, the Committee may invite persons for further interactions, keeping their identity confidential.”

The terms of reference of the Committee are as follows:

1. To inquire into the events that transpired before and during the riots, including the

response of the state machinery in dealing with the violence, restoring law and order, and related matters.

2. To analyse and assess the response of the police in investigating the riots.

3. To examine the role of the mainstream and social media in spreading information, both genuine and fake, before, during and after the riots, and its impact on events.

4. To assess the civic administration’s efforts at providing relief and extending reparations to the victims of riots.

The Committee is committed to “independence, impartiality and transparency in its functioning, and to ensuring that it conducts itself with integrity, that all persons who engage with the Committee are accorded dignity and respect, and that confidentiality of communications is protected.”

According to the statement issued by the Committee, it will “collect and scrutinize primary material, including first person account of those who have direct knowledge of the events and issues within the Committee’s purview, FIRs, Charge-sheets and other documents prepared by government agencies, audio-visual and documentary material that have a bearing on matters under examination”.

Secondary material and information will also be reviewed, these include reports and accounts already in the public domain. The Committee will also put out a public notice seeking information and material pertaining to Delhi riots and its aftermath. “Based on information received, the Committee may also invite people for more detailed interactions. The Committee will also proactively collect, review information, materials related to the Delhi riots and also “reach out to persons who may have information or materials pertaining to the events under examination,” said the statement. The last date for submissions is November 30, 2020.

The Committee has invited people to confidentiality share relevant information by uploading them on https://citizenscommitteeondelhiriots.in/submission-form. Citizens can also send information submission by post to: Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), Common Cause House, 2nd Floor, Nelson Mandela Marg, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi -110070. For any other enquiries, you can email citizenscommittee2020@gmail.com