Delhi riots: Court stays FIR against police official accused of hate crime
Delhi riots: Court stays FIR against police official accused of hate crime
New Delhi, A court here has stayed a magistrate’s order to register an FIR against a Delhi Police official for allegedly assaulting and forcing a man to sing the national anthem during the 2020 communal riots.
Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai was hearing the revision plea of Salender Tomar, the then station house officer of Jyoti Nagar police station, against the magisterial court’s order passed on January 18 this year.
In an order dated February 1, the court said, "After going through the record and hearing submissions of the counsel , the court is of the view that the whole purpose of the present petition will be frustrated if the operation of the impugned order is not stayed by the court."
Terming it as a "hate crime", the magistrate had directed that an FIR be registered against the then SHO under Indian Penal Code sections 295 A , 323 , 342 and 506 .
The magisterial court directed the present SHO to depute a responsible officer not below the rank of inspector to conduct investigation in the matter.
The revision plea filed against the order argued that the order was "an example of double jeopardy" as an FIR was already registered at Bhajanpura police station for the same incident.
"Further, the trial court grossly erred ignoring the fact that while transferring the investigation of the case as mentioned above, vide order dated July 23, 2024, the Delhi High Court has directed the CBI to investigate the case properly...as such the trial court was not competent to order for registration of another FIR when the same allegations are already sub-judice before the high court...," the plea said.
The magistrate had earlier passed the order for registering the FIR on a plea by one Mohammed Wasim, who claimed that he was among the five people who were allegedly assaulted and forced to sing the national anthem during the communal riots in northeast Delhi on February 24.
A purported video clip of the incident had gone viral on social media, where five Muslim men were seen being beaten up by policemen and forced to sing the national anthem and 'Vande Mataram', the national song.
One among the five men, Faizan, had died after the incident, following which her mother Kismatun moved the high court in 2020 seeking a court-monitored SIT probe into the death of her 23-year-old son.
The high court transferred the matter to the CBI in July last year.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.