It has been requested that the title of this article be changed to 2020 Delhi riots . Please see the relevant discussion. The page should not be moved unless the discussion is closed with a summary describing the consensus achieved in support of the move. |
North East Delhi riots | |
---|---|
Buildings burned during the rioting in Shiv Vihar, New Delhi. [1] | |
Date | 23 February 2020 – 1 March 2020 (7 days) [2] |
Location | 28°40′55″N77°16′26″E / 28.682°N 77.274°E Coordinates: 28°40′55″N77°16′26″E / 28.682°N 77.274°E |
Caused by | |
Goals |
|
Methods | |
Casualties | |
Death(s) | 53 [8] |
Injuries | 200+ [9] |
Arrested | 2200 (including detained) [10] |
The North East Delhi riots, also 2020 Delhi riots, were multiple incidents of religiously driven bloodshed, property destruction, and rioting in North East Delhi, beginning on the night of 23 February 2020 and causing the deaths of 53 people, mostly Muslims, [11] [12] who were shot, cut with irregular blows or set afire. [12] Killed also were a policeman, an intelligence officer, and over a dozen Hindus, who were shot or assaulted. [12] Hundreds of wounded have lain in weakening states in inadequately staffed hospitals; corpses continue to be found in sewer drains. [13]
Muslims were described as having been targeted by the rioters; [14] [15] in some instances, policemen joined in. [16] In other instances, Muslim males who unlike Hindu males are commonly circumcised were forced to show their genitals for ascertaining their religion before they were brutalised. [17] The properties destroyed were disproportionately Muslim-owned and included four mosques, which were set ablaze by rioters. [18] Many Muslims have begun to leave these neighbourhoods. [11] Even in areas of India's capital untouched by the violence, Muslims have begun to leave for their ancestral villages, unsure of their safety. [17]
Earlier, in Jaffrabad, in North East Delhi, a sit-in by women against India's Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 had begun on a stretch of the Seelampur–Jaffrabad–Maujpur road. [19] [20] On 23 February 2020, a leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Kapil Mishra, demanded that Delhi Police clear the roads occupied by protesters, and threatened to forcefully end the protests if the police failed. [21] [22] By the next day, rioters wearing helmets and carrying sticks, stones, sabres or pistols, and the saffron flags of Hindu nationalism had begun to rush violently into the neighbourhood, while the police remained completely passive. [23] Mobs, both Hindu and Muslim, took to shooting with their guns; most deaths have been attributed to gunfire. [24] In the neighbourhood of Shiv Vihar, groups of violent Hindu men attacked Muslim houses and businesses for three days, often firebombing them with gas canisters and gutting them without being stopped by the police. [25]
The Indian government swiftly characterised the violence to be spontaneous. [11] The Delhi Police, which is directly overseen by India's central government, moved into the area in strength on 26 February 2020. The National Security Advisor of India, Ajit Doval, then visited the area. Three days after the violence had begun, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an appeal for peace on Twitter. [24] As of 7 March 2020 [update] , the police had registered 690 first information reports (FIRs) and arrested or detained around 2200 individuals involved in the violence. [10] The police have been accused by the affected citizens, eyewitnesses, human rights organizations, and Muslim leaders around the world of falling well short in protecting Muslims. [13]
The neighbourhood between Jaffrabad and Maujpur, which has a mixed population of Hindus and Muslims, demonstrated unity by guarding one another, barricading the neighbourhood entrance, and preventing outside mobs from entering and disturbing the communal harmony that has existed there. [26] [27]
Protests began across India in December 2019 in response to the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), which allows fast-tracked naturalisation for immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan belonging to six religions vis-à-vis Hinduism, Sikhism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Jainism and Buddhism. The Act has been seen as discriminatory to Muslims and threatening to their existence in India when combined with the anticipated National Register of Citizens (NRC). [28] [29] [30] [31] [32]
Several anti-CAA protests were held in New Delhi. Some protesters burned vehicles and pelted stones at Security forces. [33] In Shaheen Bagh, protesters blocked roads, which led to a traffic jam. [34]
The Delhi Legislative Assembly election was held on 8 February 2020, in which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was defeated by the Aam Admi Party; widespread usage of incendiary slogans by BJP equating the protesters to anti-national elements and asking for them to be shot were noted. Delhi BJP chief, Manoj Tiwari has since attributed hate speeches by fellow party-candidate Kapil Mishra (who coined the slogans) as a cause of the BJP defeat. [35] [36]
On 22 February, around 500 to 1,000 protesters, including women, began a sit-in protest near the Jaffrabad metro station. The protest blocked a stretch of Seelampur–Jaffrabad–Maujpur road, as well as the entry and exit to the metro station. [37] [38] According to the protesters, the sit-in was in solidarity with the Bharat Bandh called by the Bhim Army, which was scheduled to begin on 23 February. Police and paramilitary personnel were deployed at the site. [39]
On 23 February between 3.30 p.m. and 4 p.m., Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kapil Mishra and his supporters reached a protest site at Maujpur Chowk "to give an answer to Jaffrabad [blockade]". [5] Mishra then spoke out in a rally against the CAA protesters [lower-alpha 1] [28] and threatened to take matters into his own hands if the police failed to disperse the protesters from the Jaffrabad and Chand Bagh areas in three days' time. [4] [41] [42] This has been widely reported to be the major inciting factor: [43] [35] however, Mishra rejects the allegations. [44]
At approximately 4 p.m., protesters were reported to have hurled stones at the pro-CAA gathering at Maujpur Chowk and near a temple. [45] Between 9 to 11 p.m. clashes broke out between the anti-CAA and pro-CAA demonstrators in Karawal Nagar, Maujpur Chowk, Babarpur and Chand Bagh. Vehicles were gutted and shops were destroyed. [45] [5] [46] The police used baton charge and tear gas to disperse the crowd. [47]
On the morning of 24 February, a pro-CAA mob arrived at an anti-CAA protest site at Jaffrabad and refused to leave until the anti-CAA protesters left the area. At around 12:30 p.m., protesters wearing masks and waving swords clashed with the police force. [45] By afternoon, violent clashes broke out in several areas of North East Delhi, including in the Gokulpuri and Kardampuri areas. [48] There was heavy stone pelting and vandalism of property. The police used tear gas and lathi charge against the protesters in the Chand Bagh area, [49] [50] [51] but the protesters retaliated by throwing stones at the police. [52] A head constable, Ratan Lal, died of a bullet injury in this clash. [53] [54] [55] [lower-alpha 2]
In Bhajanpura, in afternoon a group numbering around 2000 attacked a petrol pump, chanting slogans of Āzādī (transl. 'Freedom') and carrying petrol bombs, sticks and weapons. They attacked the owner and employees of the petrol pump with sticks, burning vehicles and petrol tanks after looting available cash. [45] [56] [57]
Violence was also reported from the areas of Seelampur, Jaffrabad, Maujpur, Kardampuri, Babarpur, Gokulpuri and Shivpuri. [58] [59] Section 144 (ban on assembly) was imposed in all the affected areas but to little effect. [60] [61] [62] In Jaffrabad, a man, allegedly linked with the anti-CAA side, opened fire at the police, before being arrested days later in Uttar Pradesh. [63] [64]
In Shiv Vihar, in the afternoon, several shops and homes owned by Hindus were torched by a Muslim mob. Later, mutilated bodies of workers were recovered from the site. A massive parking lot with 170 cars was burned by a mob. [65] [66] [67] In the evening around 8:30 p.m., a tyre market (predominantly owned by Muslims) was set on fire with the screaming of "Jai Shri Ram" being heard. [48] [53] Later that night, at around 10:30 p.m., a mob beat Monu Kumar and his father Vinod Kumar with sticks, stones and swords while screaming " Allahu akbar ". Vinod Kumar died on the spot. [68] On that day, five people died including a police constable and four civilians. [50] [54]
Three thousand five hundred emergency calls were made to the police control room that day. [69] The Delhi Fire Service stated that it had attended 45 calls from areas in northeast Delhi and three firemen were injured, on 24 February. While attending calls, a fire engine was attacked with stones, while another fire engine was set on fire by rioters. [70]
On 25 February, stone pelting was reported from Maujpur, Brahampuri and other neighbouring areas. Around 5 AM in Brahmpuri, Atul Kumar was shot during a morning walk. Rapid Action Force were deployed in the worst affected areas. [70] It was a full-blown riot with intense religious sloganeering and violence from both sides. [71]
In Ashok Nagar, a mosque was vandalized and a Hanuman flag was placed on one of the minarets of the mosque. It was also reported that prayer mats of the mosque were burnt and torn pages from the Quran were strewn outside the mosque. [72] [73] A mob sloganeering Jai Śrī Rām (transl. "Hail Lord Rama") and Hindūō̃ kā Hindustān (transl. "India for Hindus") marched around the mosque before setting it on fire and looting adjacent shops and houses. According to local residents, the attackers did not belong to the area. [6] [74] After the first wave of violence by rioters, the police evacuated Muslim residents and took them to the police station. While the residents were away, a second mosque in Ashok Nagar and a third in Brijpuri were also torched along with a three-storey house and eight shops in the vicinity; the rioters could not be identified. [74] [74] [75] Another mosque was vandalised in Gokulpuri. [76]
At 3 p.m. in Durgapuri, Hindu and Muslim mobs clashed, pelting stones and shooting at each other. [77] The rioters sported tilaka on their foreheads, and shouted religious slogans whilst shops and vehicles belonging to Muslims were exclusively torched. [77] Police were not present initially in the area and arrived almost an hour later. [77]
At Gamri extension, a Hindu mob attacked a lane, and an 85-year-old woman was burnt to death when her house was set on fire. [78] In Karawal Nagar, acid was thrown by protesters on the paramilitary personnel, who were deployed in the area to maintain law and order. [79] People wielding sticks and iron rods were reported to be roaming streets in the areas of Bhajanpura, Chand Bagh and Karawal Nagar localities. [49]
By 9:30 p.m., it was reported that 13 people died due to violence. [49] Among the injured, more than 70 people suffered gunshot injuries. At 10 p.m., shoot at sight orders were given to police in the riot-affected area. [70]
The dead body of Ankit Sharma, a trainee driver in the Intelligence Bureau at Chanakyapuri, was found in a drain in Jaffrabad, a day after he went missing. [80] [81] The circumstances leading to his death are under investigation, [82] [83] with a lot of confusion regarding them. [84] [85] According to a post-mortem report, he was repeatedly stabbed, leading to his death. [86] Tahir Hussain, who was an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor, was arrested for allegedly murdering Sharma. [87] [88] [89]
Seven thousand five hundred emergency calls were made to the police control room throughout the day, the highest in the week. [69]
The National Security Advisor of India, Ajit Doval, visited violence-affected areas of North East Delhi in the evening. However, reports of violence, arson and mob lynching emerged from Karawal Nagar, Maujpur and Bhajanpura later that night. [90]
One thousand, five hundred emergency calls were made to the police control room that day. [69] Complaints of delayed post-mortem reports were aired from several hospitals while witnesses and affected individuals who claimed to be civilians gave statements. Some of them blamed Kapil Mishra for the riots while one individual stated that a mob attacked them with stones and swords while chanting the Takbir. [91]
In Shiv Vihar, between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., clashes were reported. Three injured persons were reported, one of whom had bullet wounds. A godown, two shops, and a motorcycle were torched. [92]
A 60-year-old rag picker, who had stepped out of home assuming the situation had normalized, was attacked and died on way to the hospital due to head injuries. [93]
With no fresh cases of violence reported to the police on the day, the situation was said to be returning to normal with some shops reopening. [94] Thirteen cases were registered against people posting provocative content on social media. [95]
In the Welcome area, one shop was set on fire on 1 March. [2] Meanwhile, rumours of further volence were circulated on social media, following which the Delhi Police announced that the situation was "peaceful". [96] Seven metro stations (Nawada, Nangloi, Tughlakabad, Nawada, Badarpur, Surajmal Stadium, Patel Nagar and Uttam Nagar west) were closed for an hour due to the panic caused by the rumours. [2]
Several incidents of mobs attacking journalists were reported during the riots. A journalist of JK 24x7 News was shot by Anti-CAA protestors on 25 February while reporting in the Maujpur area. [97] [98] Two journalists of NDTV along with a cameraman were attacked by the mob while they were recording the torching of a mosque in the area. One of the journalists sustained severe injuries. A journalist involved in the same incident had to intervene and convince the mob that the journalists were Hindus to save them from further assault. [99]
On 25 February, a photojournalist for The Times of India was heckled by the Hindu Sena members while taking pictures of a building that had been set on fire. The group tried to put a "tilak on his forehead" claiming that it will "make his job easier" as he could then be identified as a Hindu by the rioters. They questioned his intentions of taking pictures of the building on fire and further threatened to remove his pants to reveal that he is not circumcised, as evidence of being a Hindu. [97] [100] The reporter was later approached by another rioter who demanded him to prove his religion. [97]
Several journalists shared their experience with rioters on Twitter. A journalist of Times Now tweeted that she was attacked by pro-CAA and right-wing protesters. She said that she had to plead with the mob, who were carrying stones and sticks, to escape from the site. [97] Journalists of Reuters , [101] India Today , [102] CNN-News18 [103] too stated that they were assaulted. [97]
The Hindustan Times reported that a motorcycle, which belonged to one of its photographers who was documenting the violence in Karawal Nagar, was set on fire by a masked mob. After torching the motorcycle, the mob threatened, assaulted him and seized the memory card in his camera. They asked for his official identity card and took a photograph of it before letting him leave. [104]
The Editors Guild of India issued a statement on 25 February expressing concern about the attacks on journalists as an assault on freedom of the press in India. They urged the Home Ministry and the Delhi Police to investigate the incidents and bring the perpetrators to justice. [105] [106]
ThePrint journalists, who covered the incidents, reported that the people of the localities were confident that their neighbours did not engage in violence against them. Rather they blamed the "outsiders". [107] The neighbourhood between Jaffrabad and Maujpur, which has a mixed population of Hindus and Muslims, demonstrated unity by guarding one another and barricading the gate to prevent outside mobs from entering and destroying the communal harmony that exists there. [26] [27] In the area of Mustafabad, Hindus and Muslims joined together to keep guard to prevent miscreants to enter the area. [108]
Some Hindu families worked to protect their Muslim friends and neighbours amidst the riots by inviting them into their homes for a few days until the riots calmed down. [109] [110] Premkanth Baghel, a local Hindu, rescued his Muslim friends from their burning house, causing himself to suffer 70% TBSA burns. [111] In the area of Chand Bagh, some Muslims visited their Hindu neighbours and assured their safety. [112] At the Mandir Masjid Marg of Noor-e-Ilahi, Muslims gathered around Hanuman Mandir, the Hindu temple, to protect it from being damaged while Hindus did the same for Azizya Masjid, a mosque in the area. [113] [114] [115]
Mohinder Singh and his son Inderjit Singh rescued around seventy Muslims from a mosque and a madrasa that were surrounded by a mob, by transporting them to safety on their motorcycle, giving safe passage to two children at a time. [116] Akali Dal leader and former MLA, Majinder Singh Sirsa, opened up his gurudwara to those seeking shelter amidst the rioting. [116]
On 1 March, Muslim and Hindu residents of Jaffrabad organised a peace march together. [117]
The Delhi Police's ability to maintain the law and order and bring the peace back in riot-affected areas has been questioned by multiple sources. The police took no action even though present when the violence resulted in murders. They remained lax in deploying policemen on 23 February, when multiple intelligence reports requested more forces to prevent the tense situation (created by Mishra's speech) from escalating further. Victims of the riot reported that the police did not respond promptly when called, claiming that the officers were busy. [118] [119] Other reports also suggested that the police encouraged rioters and physically attacked residents of riot-affected areas, going on to shoot people randomly. The police, however, denied these assertions. [120]
A video shared on social media on 26 February showed a group of men being assaulted by the police as they lay on the ground, forcibly singing the national anthem of India and "Vande Mataram" on the demands of the policemen. The families of the men claimed that they were detained in the lockup for two days and beaten further. One of them, Faizan, was admitted in the neurosurgery wing of LNJP Hospital and died on 29 February from critical gunshot wounds. Another was reported to have suffered serious injuries. [121] [122]
The lack of the police's prompt response may be attributed to the large police force deployed to line the roads for the visit of the United States President Donald Trump. The police had reportedly informed the Ministry of Home Affairs of the shortfall of policeman available for immediately controlling the violence, [123] but this was denied by the Ministry. [124]
When the Delhi High Court bench, on 27 February, ordered the Delhi Police to file FIRs against the people whose speeches triggered the riots, the police and the government remarked that they had consciously not done so, citing that arresting them would not restore immediate peace. They further informed the court that they would need more time to investigate the matter. [125]
When a team of lawyers visited Jagatpuri police station to visit the anti-CAA protestors detained by the police, they were reportedly abused by police personnel. [126] The lawyers then wrote to the Delhi commissioner of police, demanding action against the officer who assaulted them. [127]
The Jan Swasthya Abhiyaan (JSA), a public health advocacy group, compiled a report on the information gathered by their volunteers working in the hospitals during the riots. The report, titled The Role of Health Systems in Responding to Communal Violence in Delhi [128] and released on 2 March, alleged that doctors had harassed the victims by referring to them as terrorists, and had asked victims if they knew the full forms of "NRC" and "CAA". The report documented instances of negligence, denying victims treatment in some cases, while disregarding the safety of patients in others. Multiple cases were reportedly rejected for not having the required medico legal case documentation. It was also alleged that the doctors did not provide detailed reports of the injuries and autopsies to the victims and their families. [129]
The report indicated that citizens had grown fearful of government services such as ambulances and government hospitals, with victims taking private vehicles to go to private hospitals, [130] due to the treatment and abuse that they had received from the police. [128] This problem compounded the existing issues of the mobs not allowing ambulances near the riot-affected areas. [131] In some areas, primary health centres and hospitals remained closed throughout the riots, either due to the violence or due to lack of medical facilities available at the grassroots level even before the riots began. [132] Families of the victims also reported delayed post-mortem reports from several hospitals. [91]
On 25 February the Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal stated that the Police, despite its efforts, had been unable to control the violence and requested the Army's assistance in stopping the violence as the number of deaths climbed to 23. [133] [72] [134]
AAP leader Sanjay Singh released a video in which BJP MLA from Laxmi Nagar, Abhay Verma, was seen leading crowds that raised slogans Pulis kē hatyārō̃ kō, gōlī mārō sālō̃ kō (transl. "Shoot the bastards who murdered the policemen"), Jō Hindū hit kī bāt karēgā, vahī dēś pē rāj karēgā (transl. "Whoever talks about the welfare of Hindus, only they will rule the country") and Jai Śrī Rām (transl. "Hail Lord Rama"). Singh accused Home Minister Amit Shah of holding an "all-party meeting, pretending to restore peace and their MLA is engaged in inciting riots." Verma meanwhile defended himself claiming the slogans were raised by civilians. [135]
Indian National Congress president Sonia Gandhi held a press conference at which she said that Shah should resign for failing to stop the violence. She asked for the deployment of an adequate number of security forces. [133] Gandhi's press conference was followed by a press conference by Prakash Javadekar; he said that there is "selective silence" from AAP and Congress and he added that they are politicising violence. [136]
After three days of violence with 20 deaths, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, shared a message on Twitter asking people to maintain peace. Commentators said that he reacted only after the departure of President Trump, whom he had been hosting on a state visit while the riots began. [137] [138] [139] [140]
On 26 February, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) conveyed "grave concern" over the riots and requested the Indian government to provide protection to people, no matter which faith they belonged to. [141] US Senator and 2020 US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and other American politicians expressed their concerns over the events. In response, on 27 February 2020, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, Raveesh Kumar, stated that these remarks were "factually inaccurate", "misleading" and "aimed at politicising the issue". [142] BJP general secretary BL Santhosh threatened Sanders with election interference due to his condemnation. [143] The US issued a travel advisory for its citizens to exercise caution. [144]
On 27 February, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, stated, "Indians in huge numbers, and from all communities, have expressed—in a mostly peaceful manner—their opposition to the Act, and support for the country's long tradition of secularism,". She expressed concern on the citizenship law and reports of "police inaction" during the communal attacks in Delhi. [92] Twelve eminent citizens of Bangladesh also expressed grave concern over the communal clashes on that day. They expressed fear that India's failure to handle the situation could create a volatile environment in its neighbouring countries, which could destroy peace, democracy, development and communal harmony in the region. [145] The Governor of Meghalaya, Tathagata Roy, wanted lessons to be learned from Deng Xiaoping's handling of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests for ways to handle the riots. [146]
On 27 February, Turkish president Erdogan criticised the violence. He said, "India right now has become a country where massacres are widespread. What massacres? Massacres of Muslims. By who? Hindus." [147]
On 2 March, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, alleged that the Delhi riot was a "planned genocide". [148] [149]
On 5th March, Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, asked the Indian Government to confront extremist Hindus and their parties and stop the massacre of Muslims of India, to prevent India from being isolated from the world of Islam. [150]
On 24 February 2020, the Ministry of Home Affairs stated that the violence appeared orchestrated to coincide with President Donald Trump's February 24–25, 2020 visit to India. [151] The Ministry also refused to bring in the Army to control the riots and stated that the number of central forces and policemen on the ground was adequate. More than 6,000 police and paramilitary personnel were deployed in the area. [49]
On the morning of 25 February 2020, the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal chaired an urgent meeting of all party MLAs from the violence-hit areas and senior officials. Several MLAs raised concerns on the lack of deployment of enough policemen. [70] The concerns were raised by Kejriwal in the subsequent meeting chaired by Home Minister Shah and attended by Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal and senior police officials. The meeting concluded with the decision to take all possible steps to contain violence. Kejriwal stated that Shah had assured the availability of an adequate number of policemen. [70]
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval was given the responsibility of restoring peace in the region. [133] [152] On 26 February, Doval travelled to the violence-hit regions and spoke to locals, assuring them of normalcy. [153]
On 27 February, Kejriwal announced free treatment for the injured in government as well as private hospitals under the Farishta scheme. The government had made arrangements with the help of NGOs to supply food in areas where a curfew had been imposed. He also announced a compensation amount of ₹ 1 million (US$14,000) to affected people, ₹100,000 (US$1,400) ex-gratia, and ₹500,000 (US$7,000) in the case of a death of a minor. [92] He also announced that the Delhi government had set up nine shelters for the people affected by the riots. For people whose houses were completely burnt, immediate assistance of ₹25,000 (US$350) was announced. [93]
Food and other relief materials were distributed with the help of resident welfare associations and NGOs. [154] BJP leaders Tajinder Bagga and Kapil Mishra collected ₹7.1 million (US$100,000) for the Hindu victims of Delhi riots via crowdfunding. [155]
On 27 February 2020, Delhi Police informed that two Special Investigation Teams (SIT) were formed to investigate the violence. [156] DCP Joy Tirkey and DCP Rajesh Deo were appointed head of these SITs respectively, along with four Assistant Commissioners in each team. [157] Additional Commissioner of crime branch, B.K. Singh is supervising the work of the SITs. On 28 February 2020, the police also informed forensic science teams who visited the crime scenes to collect evidence. [158]
As of 28 February 2020 [update] , police had registered 123 FIRs and around 600 individuals involved in the violence were taken into custody. [159] Some activists were charged with offences under Indian Penal code and the Arms Act. Their friends and relatives alleged that they were tortured in custody. [160] [161] [162]
Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan, along with former Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah and social activist Syed Bahadur Abbas Naqvi, filed an appeal in the Supreme Court seeking direction to the police to file reports over cases of violence that occurred since the night of 23 February. His petition also accused Mishra of "inciting and orchestrating the riots". [163] The plea was filed through Advocate Mehmood Pracha, in an intervention in a matter relating to removal of protesters from the public road in Shaheen Bagh and is scheduled for hearing on 26 February. [164] [70]
On 26 February, while hearing the issue, the Supreme Court criticized Delhi Police for not doing enough to stop the inflammatory speech and the violence. The bench, consisting of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K. M. Joseph, slammed the police for lack of "professionalism" and questioned why the police had to wait for orders to act during such law and order situation. [165] The court added that the violence could have been prevented if the police had taken the necessary action on the people who incited violence. The Supreme Court did not entertain any plea on the Delhi incidents as the case is being heard in the Delhi High Court. [166]
A plea was filed in the Delhi High Court, seeking police reports and arrests of the people involved in the violence. [70] It was to be received for an urgent hearing on 25 February. However, the court stated that the plea would be heard on 26 February. The plea filed by activists Harsh Mander and Farah Naqvi also asked for a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the incident, in addition to compensation for those killed and injured. It also requested for the deployment of the Indian Army to maintain law and order in the affected areas of Delhi. [70]
At midnight on 26 February, the court bench consisting of Justices S. Muralidhar and Talwant Singh, heard the plea to provide the safe passage to the riot victims to reach their nearest government or private hospitals. [167] [168] Following this, the court ordered the police to safeguard and help all victims to reach their nearest hospitals. The bench also directed the police to submit a report of compliance that would include information about the injured victims and the treatments offered to them. The same was to be placed before the court for the following hearing date. [169] [170] [171]
In the morning during the hearing, the court asked the DCP of crime branch, Rajesh Deo, and the Solicitor General of India, Tushar Mehta, if they had watched the inflammatory speech given by Kapil Mishra. In response, DCP Deo surprised the court by saying he did not watch the video of Mishra but watched videos of Anurag Thakur and Parvesh Verma. [172] [173] The Court then played the video clip of Kapil Mishra's speech, going on to direct the police to decide within 24 hours on filing cases related to the hate speeches made by the four BJP leaders, Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur, Parvesh Verma and Abhay Verma. [3] [174] The bench had expressed "anguish" over the inability of Delhi Police to control the riots and its failure to file FIRs against the BJP leaders for their hate speeches. It was noted that Delhi could not be allowed to repeat incidents like the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. [175]
Late on the night of 26 February, Justice S. Muralidhar who presided over the plea hearing, was transferred to Punjab and Haryana High Court. He was transferred on the same day he condemned the Delhi Police for its failure in controlling the riots or filing cases against BJP leader for hate speech. [176] [175] However, official sources said this was a routine transfer which had been recommended by the Supreme Court a fortnight before. [177] BBC News reported that his "biting comments could have hastened his transfer". The news of his removal from the case was criticised by many Indians who expressed concern. [176] The Congress party called his transfer a move to protect the accused BJP leaders. [178] The Delhi High Court Bar Association criticised the transfer and asked the Supreme Court collegium to revoke it. [179]
On 27 February, the court resumed the hearing with a new bench consisting of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice C. Hari Shankar. During the previous hearing, the Delhi police were given 24 hours to decide on the filing of FIRs over hate speeches by four BJP leaders. The government's lawyer claimed that the situation was not "conducive" and that the government needed more time before it could take appropriate action. The new bench accepted the same arguments that the previous bench had rejected. The new bench agreed to give the government more time to decide on filing of the cases for hate speech. [180] The petitioners' lawyer requested an earlier hearing, citing the increasing number of deaths, but the court set 13 April as the date of the next hearing. [181]
On 28 February, the court issued notices to Delhi and central governments seeking their responses on registering FIRs on Congress party leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi on the charges of delivering hate speeches. [182] [183] Hearing another plea, the bench also issued notice to Delhi police and central government for their response on registering FIR on AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan, actress Swara Bhaskar, activist Harsh Mander and on AIMIM leaders like Akbaruddin Owaisi, Asaduddin Owaisi, and Waris Pathan. The court later posted the matter to be heard again on 13 April. [184] [185]
The 2002 Gujarat riots, also known as the 2002 Gujarat violence and the Gujarat pogrom, was a three-day period of inter-communal violence in the western Indian state of Gujarat. Following the initial incident, there were further outbreaks of violence in Ahmedabad for three months; statewide, there were further outbreaks of violence against the minority Muslim population for the next year. The burning of a train in Godhra on 27 February 2002, which caused the deaths of 58 Hindu pilgrims karsevaks returning from Ayodhya, is cited as having instigated the violence.
Jai Shri Ram is a Hindi expression, translating to "Glory to Lord Rama" or "Victory to Lord Rama". The proclamation has been used as an informal greeting or as a symbol of adhering to Hindu faith or for projection of varied faith-centered emotions, by Hindus in recent past. The expression was used by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which embraced the slogan in the late 20th century, as a tool of increasing the visibility of Hinduism in public spaces and went on to use it as a war-cry, for perpetration of communal atrocities against people of other faiths.
Religious violence in Odisha consists of civil unrest and riots in the remote forest region surrounding the Kandhamal district in the western parts of the Indian state of Odisha.
Kapil Mishra is an Indian politician from Delhi. and a former MLA represented Karawal Nagar in the Sixth Legislative Assembly of Delhi.
The demolition of the Babri Masjid on 6 December 1992 was done illegally by a large group of activists of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and allied organisations in relation to the Ayodhya dispute. The 16th-century Babri Mosque in the city of Ayodhya, in Uttar Pradesh was targeted after a political rally organised by Hindu nationalist organisations turned violent.
The clashes between the Hindu and Muslim communities in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh, India in August–September 2013, resulted in at least 62 deaths including 42 Muslims and 20 Hindus and injured 93 and left more than 50,000 displaced. The exact numbers have been the subject of much debate. In a Public Interest Litigation filed by a victim of the violence, Mohammed Haroon and others in the Supreme Court, the number of deaths is suggested to be over 200. By 17 September, the curfew was lifted from all riot affected areas and the army was also withdrawn.
There have been several instances of religious violence against Muslims since the Partition of India in 1947, frequently in the form of violent attacks on Muslims by Hindu mobs that form a pattern of sporadic sectarian violence between the Hindu and Muslim communities. Over 10,000 people have been killed in Hindu-Muslim communal violence since 1950 in 6,933 instances of communal violence between 1954 and 1982.
Riots broke out in Kaliachak, Malda district in West Bengal, India on 3 January 2016. The Muslims were protesting the remark of Kamlesh Tiwari, who claimed to be a Hindu Mahasabha leader, made on 3 December 2015 in the state of Uttar Pradesh, which allegedly made derogatory remarks against the Muslim prophet Muhammad.
The Jat reservation agitation was a series of violent protests in February 2016 by Jat people of North India, especially those in the state of Haryana, which "paralysed the State for 10 days." The protestors sought inclusion of their caste in the Other Backward Class (OBC) category, which would make them eligible for affirmative action benefits. Besides Haryana, the protests also spread to the neighbouring states, such as Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and also the National Capital Region.
Cow vigilante violence involves mob attacks in the name of "cow protection" targeting mostly illegal cow smugglers, but in some cases even licensed cow traders, has swelled since 2014. There is a debate on whether there has actually been any change in the number of such incidences, as Government Data points out to reduced communal tensions post 2014. Cattle slaughter is banned in most states of India. Recently emerged cow vigilante groups, claiming to be protecting cattle, have been violent leading to a number of deaths. Cow-protection groups see themselves as preventing theft, protecting the cow or upholding the law in an Indian state which bans cow slaughter. According to a Reuters report, a total of 63 cow vigilante attacks had occurred in India between 2010 and mid 2017, mostly since the Modi government came to power in 2014. In these attacks between 2010 and June 2017, "28 Indians – 24 of them Muslims – were killed and 124 injured", states the Reuter's report.
The Bhim Army, also written as Bheem Army,, is an Ambedkarite Dalit organisation in India. It was founded by Chandrashekhar Azad, sometimes known by the alias Azad, and Vinay Ratan Singh in 2015. The group runs more than 350 free schools for Bahujan in Saharanpur, Meerut, Shamli and Muzaffarnagar in western Uttar Pradesh. The organisation is named after B. R. Ambedkar.
On 25 August 2017, widespread rioting in northern India broke out after Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the religious leader of Dera Sacha Sauda, was convicted of rape. The riots began in Panchkula and later spread to other parts of the northern Indian states of Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and the capital, New Delhi. At least 41 people were killed, the majority of them in Panchkula, where 32 people were allegedly killed by police gunfire. More than 300 others were injured.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 was passed by the Parliament of India on 11 December 2019. It amended the Citizenship Act of 1955 by providing a path to Indian citizenship for illegal migrants of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian religious minorities, who had fled persecution from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan before December 2014. Muslims from those countries were not given such eligibility. The act was the first time religion had been overtly used as a criterion for citizenship under Indian law.
The Citizenship Amendment Act (Bill) protests, CAA Protest or CAB Protest have occurred after the enactment of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) by the Indian government on 12 December 2019 triggered widespread ongoing protests across India and abroad against the act and the associated proposals to enact a National Register of Citizens (NRC). The protests began in Assam, Delhi, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, and Tripura on 4 December 2019, and quickly spread across the country, although the concerns of the protesters vary.
On 5 January 2020, more than 50 masked people armed with rods, sticks and acid attacked the campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, and injured more than 39 students and teachers. Many students received serious injuries. Professors who tried to intervene and protect the students, as well as ambulances carrying injured individuals, were attacked. Eyewitnesses stated that police within the campus did not intervene to stop the mob. After attacking residents of the university campus for three hours, the mob escaped; none of its members was arrested or detained. All 36 students who were injured and admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi (AIIMS) were discharged within 24 hours.
The Shaheen Bagh protest is an ongoing continuous sit-in peaceful protest, led by women, that began in response to the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in both houses of Parliament on 11 December 2019 and the ensuing police intervention against students at Jamia Millia Islamia who were opposing the Amendment. Protesters have agitated not only against the citizenship issues of the CAA, National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR), but also against police brutality, rising costs of commodities, increasing unemployment and poverty, and for women's safety. Mainly consisting of Muslim women, the protesters at Shaheen Bagh, since 15 December 2019, have blocked a road in New Delhi using non-violent resistance for 84 days as of 9 March 2020. It has become the longest ongoing continuous protest against CAA-NRC-NPR. As a precautionary measure Delhi Police have barricaded the neighbouring major highways around the area. Following the North East Delhi riots, police barricading and presence in the area increased with over ten companies, 1000 personnel, being assigned to Shaheen Bagh.
The Jamia Milia Islamia attack refers to the forceful entry by Delhi police into the Jamia Milia Islamia university during a confrontation with student protesters that started outside the campus on 15 December 2019. Hundreds of police officers forcefully entered the campus and detained more than a hundred students during the confrontation with the protesters. The police used batons and tear gas to disperse protesters. The police also entered the university library and washrooms and in the process of the violence ransacked parts of it. The visuals of students being dragged and assaulted by the police were telecast by news channels. About two hundred people were injured and were admitted to AIIMS and the Holy Family Hospital.
Tukde Tukde Gang is a pejorative political catchphrase used in India by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its sympathisers accusing their critics for allegedly supporting sedition and secessionism. Whereas the words tukde-tukde refer to "breaking or cutting something into small fragments", the phrase "tukde tukde gang" can be translated as "a gang that wants to divide the country". The phrase is used to stigmatize political opponents who have different political views.
CAA protests in Uttar Pradesh is an ongoing continuous protest, that began in response to the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in both houses of Parliament on 11 December 2019 and the ensuing police intervention against students at Jamia Millia Islamia who were opposing the Amendment.
This article contains the partial list of casualties in the Citizenship Amendment Act protests.
No riot-related deaths were reported on Saturday but a shop was set on fire in the Welcome area, said police.
This past week, as neighborhoods in India's capital burned and religiously driven bloodletting consumed more than 40 lives, most of them Muslim, India's government was quick to say that the violence was spontaneous... Many Muslims are now leaving, hoisting their unburned things on their heads and trudging away from streets that still smell of smoke.
At least 53 people were killed or suffered deadly injuries in violence that persisted for two days.The majority of those killed were Muslims, many shot, hacked or burned to death. A police officer and an intelligence officer were also killed. So too were more than a dozen Hindus, most of them shot or assaulted.
But hundreds of wounded are languishing in understaffed medical facilities. Corpses are still being discovered in drainage ditches. Victims are still dying in hospitals. The death toll has reached 53... Police are facing accusations from victims, witnesses, human rights groups, opposition politicians and Muslim leaders worldwide that they failed to protect Muslim citizens, and in some cases, even incited attacks themselves.
The violence has been described as targeting Muslims His was one of around eight homes belonging to Muslims targeted by a rampaging mob in this Delhi neighbourhood on Tuesday afternoon, picked for destruction because they sat next to a mosque in this otherwise mostly Hindu-populated neighbourhood, vandalised, looted and then gutted with fire.
But as the leaders celebrated each other in India’s capital, Hindu mobs began going after Muslim protesters in neighborhoods just a few miles away while the police looked on or joined in.
The police force — which is directly overseen by the central government — has come under criticism for failing to stop the violence. Witnesses say some officers joined the attacks on Muslims.
According to a witness, Arshad kept quiet, so the mob forced down his trousers. On seeing he was circumcised, as is common among Muslims in India, the mob instantly beat him to death. His bloodied body was later found in a gutter, his pants still around his ankles... In the aftermath, even in unaffected areas of Delhi, an exodus of Muslim families began this week, with swathes packing up their bags and returning for good to their home villages, fearing for their safety in the capital.
The property destruction has also been lopsidedly anti-Muslim, with many Muslim-owned motorcycles, cars, houses, shops and factories reduced to ashes. At least four mosques were set on fire during 48 hours of rioting.
BJP leader Kapil Mishra issued a “three-day ultimatum” to police to clear a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) by women at the Jaffrabad Metro Station.
Demanding the revocation of the Citizenship (Amendmend) Act, protesters—mostly women—on Sunday took to the streets and blocked the road below the Jaffrabad Metro Station.
Des hordes d’émeutiers casqués, armés de bâtons, de pierres, de sabres ou de pistolets, portant des drapeaux safran – la couleur des nationalistes hindous – ont pris d’assaut cette zone. Des véhicules, des échoppes, ainsi que des maisons appartenant à des musulmans, ont été incendiés sous les yeux d’une police totalement passive. (Hordes of helmeted rioters, armed with sticks, stones, sabers or pistols, carrying saffron flags - the color of Hindu nationalists - stormed this area. Vehicles, stalls, as well as houses belonging to Muslims, were set on fire before a completely passive police force.)
The police, which in Delhi are controlled by the central government, only deployed in strength on February 26th. On the orders of a court, they also began registering complaints of incitement. Mr Modi’s national-security adviser toured affected districts, giving his "word of honour" that residents could feel safe. The prime minister himself, after three days of silence, belatedly tweeted a plea for calm... Both sides soon resorted to shooting; most of the fatalities, which included two policemen, were caused by gunfire.
In Shiv Vihar, from where they and many others had escaped, almost every Muslim home lay in blackened ruins, and two mosques looked like bomb sites. For three days, Hindu rioters attacked Shiv Vihar’s Muslim localities and ran mayhem without any resistance from police. The mobs repeatedly used gas canisters as weapons, setting them alight and exploding them in Muslim properties so that the walls crumbled entirely.
Four buses were set ablaze by a mob and two fire officials were injured in stone pelting as the protests against the newly enacted Citizenship Act" (...) "The situation turned critical when a bus was burned by the protestors and police got into action
Ankit, who was a security assistant in the IB and was undergoing training as a driver ... had joined the IB as a probationer in 2017.
Union Minister of State for Home Affairs on Monday said that the violence in North-East Delhi was orchestrated with an eye on US President's visit to India.