Delhi High Court dismisses pleas seeking SIT probe into 2020 northeast Delhi riots, Jamia violence

The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed a batch of petitions seeking a SIT probe into the 2020 riots in the national capital and the 2019 violence that broke out in Jamia Millia Islamia following anti-CAA protests. A bench of Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Manoj Jain said, "for the reasons mentioned in the judgment, all the petitions are dismissed". "The batch is decided into two parts, one is northeast Delhi riots and another is for Jamia Millia riots," the bench said while pronouncing the verdict. A detailed judgement is awaited.

The court had reserved its verdict on the batch of petitions on July 24. In the northeast Delhi riots matter, the court was hearing a batch of petitions seeking directions for setting up a special investigation team (SIT), commission of inquiry or a fact-finding committee, for medical treatment, grant of compensation and registration of FIRs against the erring police officers.

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Some of the pleas also demanded that political leaders be booked for alleged hate speeches, and the formation of a SIT to probe the violence and FIRs against police officers. A communal clash broke out in northeast Delhi on February 24, 2020, amid citizenship law protests, leaving at least 53 people dead and around 700 injured.

The other petitions were related to the violence that broke out in Jamia Millia Islamia following anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protests in December 2019. The petitioners have claimed that there was a need for a SIT which was independent of the police and the central government to probe the alleged brutalities committed on the students by the police force.