2020 riots: can’t wait endlessly for forensic report, says court
houses will be bulldozed soon,” Mr. Bharadwaj said.
He added that settlements across the city have been cleared over the past few months on the orders of the DDA, Land and Development Office, and Archaeological Survey of India. “The agencies, under directions from the Prime Minister’s Office, are driving the poor to the streets in an attempt to make Delhi free of jhuggis,” he said.
“How are people expected to leave the place where they have been staying and relocate far away, that too to a night shelter which is not meant for families?” the Minister added.
Mr. Lovely lashed out at the BJPled Centre, saying the eviction notices were illegal. “Parliament recently passed a law prohibiting demolitions of jhuggi jhopri clusters till 2026. The BJP is playing petty politics at the cost of the poor,” said.
In response, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said, “The NGT had ordered the removal of encroachment in the area long ago, but the DDA delayed it for as long as they could on compassionate grounds.”
“We have made efforts to ensure that these demolitions do not happen without those affected getting alternative accommodations,” he added.
In November 2019, the NGT, while hearing a matter regarding the encroachment on the Yamuna floodplains, had directed the DDA and the Delhi government to clear the settlements.
Subsequently, the NGT, through an order on January 29 this year, imposed a fine of ₹25,000 on the DDA and directed it to submit an action taken report on the matter within four weeks. the
Congress leader
The High Court on Thursday said that it cannot wait “endlessly” for a forensic report in a 2020 communal riots case. The court’s remarks came while hearing the case of the death of a man who was allegedly forced to sing the national anthem during the riots. Kismatun, the mother of the deceased, Faizan, had moved the court in 2020 seeking a courtmonitored SIT probe into the death of her 23yearold son.
A purported video of the incident showed Faizan and four other young
Muslim men being beaten up by policemen and forced to sing the national anthem and the national song.
The petitioner claimed that her son suffered grievous injuries from the assault. She also alleged that the police denied him medical treatment, due to which he succumbed to his injuries on February 26, 2020.
The police told the court that the National Forensic Sciences University in Gujarat was yet to conclude the forensic analysis of the purported video footage. The matter was listed for further hearing on April 3.