The riots in north-east Delhi in February this year were "planned and targeted" and not spontaneous while there was "deliberate inaction over several days" from the part of the police, which also "abetted the attacks", a 10-member fact-finding appointed by the Delhi Minorities Commission has said in a report on Thursday. The report also said the violence started immediately after BJP leader Kapil Mishra in which he openly called for forcefully removing the anti-CAA protesters at Jafrabad but the police failed to take the "first and foremost immediate preventive step" needed to avoid violence by arresting him. Delhi Police did not respond to the committee's notices. The committee set up in March to look into the violence that took place in different areas of North East Delhi between Feb. 23 and 27, 2020 made efforts to invite victims of violence to come forward with information, documented individual victim testimonies at various sites of North East Delhi and conducted physical surveys of the damage to religious sites. The committee also repeatedly sought information from the Delhi Police but did not get any response. Throughout the Delhi assembly elections from December-February, there were a number of speeches by BJP leaders inciting people to violence against anti-CAA protesters. The details of these speeches have been recorded at length in the report. Violence broke out in different pockets in North East Delhi almost immediately after the short instigating speech of Kapil Mishra on Feb. 23, 2020 at Maujpur in which he openly called for forcefully removing the protestors at Jafrabad in North East Delhi. These threats to the protesters and people, was given in the presence of Deputy Commissioner of Police. At least 55 people were killed in the riots in north-east Delhi between Feb. 23 and 26. According to the report, different groups, mobs quickly fanned out to local areas after Mishra's speech carrying weapons and arms like petrol bombs, iron rods, gas cylinders, stones and firearms. "Despite the open display of weapons and firearms, sufficient actions were not taken by the district administration or police to protect life and property," the report by the ten-member committee headed by senior Supreme Court lawyer M.R. Shamshad said. The report said that 11 mosques, five madrasas, one shrine and one graveyard were attacked and damaged in the violence. Mobs specifically vandalized and burned Muslim places of worship, namely mosques and madrasas as well as religious symbols like copies of the Holy Qur'an. Non-Muslim places of worship in Muslim majority areas remained untouched. Quoting testimonies, the report said police did not act even as the violence unfolded and refused to intervene when approached citing that they do not have orders to do so. "This suggests that the failure to prevent violence was not due to individual or sporadic breaches, but was a pattern of deliberate inaction over several days," it said. The report accused the police of not enforcing prohibitory orders and did not exercise powers to disperse unlawful assemblies or to take measures to apprehend, arrest and detain those perpetrating violence. "Police were also complicit and abetted attacks. Where police did act, victims state that police stopped their colleagues when they attempted to disperse the crowd (do not stop them). In some cases, they merely stood as onlookers while the mobs engaged in violence. In others, they explicitly gave a go-ahead to the perpetrators to continue with rampage (do what you want)," it said. The report also said that Muslim women faced attacks on the basis of their religion and their hijabs and burqas were pulled off. "While the slogans of 'Azadi' (a cry for freedom from the discriminatory laws and practices) were used by the protesters, the police used the same chants of 'Azadi' to sexually harass women and attack them, including at least one incident of a police officer flashing his genitals in front of women protesters," it said. — Agencies
