Peace group set up, mulls rewarding whistle-blowers
nNEWDELHI: A week after the riots, the Delhi assembly on Monday constituted a ‘peace and harmony committee’ which demanded that whistle-blowers on whose complaints FIRS are registered be rewarded, even as peace committees in most localities of violencehit northeast Delhi intensified their interactions with locals to help build trust among each other.
AAP MLA and chairman of the newly formed assembly committee Saurabh Bharadwaj said the committee will launch a mobile number and an email ID for people to complain against hate messages and fake news on social media. After scrutiny of complaints, the committee will send them to the police for criminal prosecutions.
“If you are in a chat group in which someone has sent a provocative message, then you can become a whistle-blower by complaining about it. The committee will propose that such people receive a reward of ₹10,000 if an FIR gets registered on their complaint,” Bharadwaj said.
Bharadwaj said the panel has also proposed that people who have helped others and saved several lives during the riots in north-east Delhi be rewarded too.
At ground zero, several Aman committees along with the local police carried out peace marches to instil confidence among the victims so they return to their homes. North-east Delhi district magistrate Sashi Kaushal said there are currently over 300 Aman committees active in the riot-hit areas.
In Jafrabad and Maujpur, Nagrik Suraksha Samiti, a peacekeeping committee, is leading peace marches every alternate day. “These localities have not seen any major violence for 70 years. The reason for the recent incidents of violence is divisive statements by some political leaders. During the peace march we tried convincing the residents that they should not fall for such hate speech and communal politics. Peace means more than anything to us,” said Fahim Baig a member of the committee.
At Mustafabad, doctors and the staff of Al-hind hospital, which has offered services to a large number of victims during the riots, also held a march from Mustafabad to Bhajapura via Brijpuri - all of which saw intense violence over the last week.
To build confidence amongst people of affected areas, Lieutenant
Governor Anil Baijal on Monday met locals and asked police to actively engage with Aman committees to restore normalcy in the area.
After the meeting, the assembly panel said in a press conference that a hate message forwarded on Whatsapp or fake news on social media can lead to imprisonment for three years.
“The committee will hold another meeting on Tuesday to take forward the discussion. It will launch a mobile number and an email ID on Tuesday for people to send such complaints. The committee will cross-check the complaints using its team of legal experts and if we find that the content can potentially cause hatred, disturbance or enmity between two communities or groups then we will recommend criminal prosecutions to the law enforcement agencies for necessary action,” said Bharadwaj.