[Marxistindia] Joint Memo to President of India
news from the cpi(m)
marxistindia at cpim.org
Thu Sep 17 15:24:02 IST 2020
September 17, 2020
Press Release
Congress Party Treasurer and MP Ahmed Patel, CPI(M) General Secretary
Sitaram Yechury, CPI General Secretary D Raja, DMK leader & MP
Kanimozhi, RJD leader and MP Manoj Jha met the President of India
today and handed over a memorandum
The leaders impressed upon the President of India that instead of
conducting an investigation into the communal violence in which 53
lives were lost and instigating which hate speeches calling for
violence were made by senior ruling party leaders including a cabinet
minister, the Delhi Police under the direction of the Union Home
Minister is orchestrating a script that is linking peaceful
anti-CAA-NPR-NRC protests to this violence. Consequently, many
innocent activists, well known intellectuals and political leaders are
being targeted. Such a manufacturing of conspiracy by the Delhi Police
is a diversion from identifying and punishing the perpetrators of this
communal violence. The victims of this violence are being arrested
while the perpetrators are let scot free.
The President heard the delegation, accepted the memorandum and said
that he will have it examined.
Due to the Covid pandemic protocol, the Rashtrapathi Bhawan had
restricted this delegation to consist of not more than 5 members.
Hence other opposition party leaders who agree with this memorandum
could not be part of the delegation.
*****
The full text of the memorandum is given below:
Shri. Ram Nath Kovind
Hon’ble President of India
Rashtrapati Bhawan,
New Delhi, Delhi 110004
Sub: Memorandum regarding Delhi riots investigation & enquiry by Delhi police
Respected Rashtrapati ji,
We are writing to you to express our deep concern about the manner in
which the Delhi Police is investigating the incidents of communal
violence which took place in North East Delhi between the 23rd and
26th of February, 2020 in which 53 people lost their lives.
The Delhi Police has set up Special Investigation Teams (SITs) and its
Special Cell is also probing the aspect of conspiracy behind the Delhi
riots.
There are, however, serious questions about the role played by the
Delhi Police itself during the violence and also the manner in which
the Police is harassing and attempting to falsely implicate activists
and young people who took part in the anti-CAA/NRC/NPR movements as
the perpetrators of violence.
Such a manufactured conspiracy theory has now begun to falsely
implicate political leaders. The name of the General Secretary of the
CPI(M), a national political party, Sitaram Yechury, a parliamentarian
of long standing repute and also names of well known intellectuals,
academicians and activists have now surfaced in material put out in
the public domain. This is a disturbing trend that raises serious
questions over the manner of such investigations.
There are several publicly documented accounts and videos of police
being complicit in the violence, directing mobs pelting stones or
looking the other way when mobs were indulging in violence. During the
violence, disturbing video emerged showing uniformed policemen
assaulting young men lying injured on the road and forcing them sing
the national anthem while repeatedly beating them with lathis. One of
the men, Faizan succumbed to his injuries a few days later. In another
incident, a DCP stood mutely next to a BJP leader who was instigating
violence against the protestors warning them that if they did not
vacate the road, he would do it himself. Despite several complaints
being filed alleging involvement of senior police officials in the
violence, including a DCP, additional commissioners and SHOs, it
appears no urgency has been accorded to identifying the policemen
involved in violence and ensuring that they are brought to book.
There are also several documented accounts of police assaulting and
torturing persons in their custody including that of Khalid Saifi who
was picked up from Khureji on February 26, and had severe injuries on
both legs when he was subsequently produced before the magistrate.
The notable silence in the chargesheets on the role of leaders
associated with the BJP, who gave inflammatory speeches, raises
serious concern about the impartiality of the probe. Since December
2019, there are publicly documented speeches by leaders of the ruling
party instigating and provoking violence against those involved in the
anti-CAA protests, including that of a minister raising slogans to
“shoot the traitors”. In fact even when people have courageously filed
complaints against BJP leaders— Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur, Parvesh
Verma, Satya Pal Singh, Jagdish Pradhan, Nand Kishore Gujjar and Mohan
Singh Bisht— accusing them of participating in or orchestrating the
violence, there has been no action by the Delhi Police.
While the Delhi police has turned a blind eye towards the role of its
own personnel and BJP leaders in the violence, at the same time the
probe appears to be pursuing a line of inquiry criminalising the
protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and portraying
them as a conspiracy which resulted in the riots in Delhi. The
chronology described by the Police in the chargesheets, which are
publicly available, chronicle the various sits-ins in Delhi and
speeches by social activists as though each of these was a build up
towards the riots. The entire investigation appears to be aimed at
arriving at a pre-meditated theory about a conspiracy propounded by
the Home Minister in Lok Sabha in March 2020, before any investigation
had even begun into the riots.
The FIR (59/2020) regarding this ‘conspiracy’ being investigated by
the Special Cell, in which the draconian Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act (UAPA) has been invoked, is being used to carry out a
fishing and roving inquiry against activists and young persons who
were involved with the protests. Over the past six months, the
supporters and participants of these protests continue to be summoned
by the police, harassed and subjected to long interrogations including
threats and coercion to extract false statements and fabricate
‘evidence’ regarding this conspiracy. The Police has also been
maliciously leaking disclosure statements (which have no evidentiary
value) of those arrested about the role of various activists and civil
society leaders in the ‘conspiracy’ in an attempt to influence public
opinion and malign them.
The ongoing probe by the Delhi police, therefore, does not inspire
confidence. There are serious questions about the impartiality of the
probe, especially given the recent order of the Special Commissioner
of Police (Crime) citing “degree of resentment among the Hindu
community” regarding arrests of “some Hindu youth” from riot-hit areas
in Northeast Delhi and directing that “due care and precaution” be
taken while making arrests.
A credible and unbiased probe is crucial to restore public trust in
the law and order machinery of the state. The investigation cannot be
allowed to become fishing and roving expedition aimed at causing a
chilling effect on dissent and protest in the country.
We therefore urge you to call upon the Government of India to
institute an inquiry into this investigation under the Commission of
Inquiry Act, 1952, headed by sitting/retired judge(s).
Yours Sincerely,
D.Raja, CPI Sitaram Yechury CPI (M)
Ahmed Patel, INC
Ms. Kanimozhi, DMK Prof. Manoj Jha, RJD
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