On Thursday, the Delhi Police submitted an affidavit before the Delhi High Court in which it claimed that no evidence has surfaced so far to indicate any role of BJP Leaders Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur or Parvesh Verma indicating their participation in the Delhi Riots or any kind of instigation by them.
The affidavit sworn by Deputy Commissioner of Police, Legal Cell(Police Head Quarters) also stated that if any evidence is found linking the alleged offensive speeches with riots, appropriate FIRs would be filed immediately.
The affidavit further submitted that 751 criminal cases under various provisions of Indian Penal Code, Arms Act and Prevention to Damage of Public Property Act, UAPA have already been registered as well as three SITs headed by DCPs have been constituted to investigate heinous cases.
It has been claimed that the prima facie investigation has revealed that the said riots didn't occur due to any 'sporadic or spontaneous violence' but appears to be a part of a well thought of 'conspiracy to destabilise the harmony in the society'.
The Crime Branch accused petitioners for attempting to achieve some 'undisclosed agenda', and submitted that the riots were carefully engineered and funded by 'mischievous elements' and 'fringe groups', who, in pursuit of their motivated hidden agendas, instilled a false fear and panic in the minds of a section of society and instigated them to take law and order in their hands and resort to violence.
The report read to this regard:
'Petitioners have selectively chosen certain speeches and incidents to further their hidden agenda. It is stated that the selective outrage by the petitioners towards specific incidents, while ignoring other abhorrent incident of violence, itself manifest that the present petitions are not bonafide but motivated. It is the bonafide belief of the deponent that the present case is nothing but repetition of the same mischief which was called out and cautioned by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Tehseen Poonantalla u. Union of India.'
The Police further claimed that petitioners are trying to take the court's attention away from the true and correct facts, Crime Branch has argued that the use of terms like 'political vendetta', 'state sponsored pogrom', 'persecution' and 'malicious prosecution' etc. clearly appears to be part of some undisclosed agenda when facts clearly show otherwise and clearly reflect lack of bonfides.
Crime Branch further stated:
'... exercising the fundamental right of dissent is and should be respected. However, no person can be allowed to commit breach of law, indulge in violence, arson and riotous activity causing danger to life, limb and property of innocent citizens under the garb of exercise of fundamental right of free speech and assembly. I respectfully state and submit that the encroachment and blockage of public roads is certainly not a facet of fundamental right of protest.'
The report has also provided information about the number of FIRs registered and the progress made in the investigation. It is also claimed therein that the Police acted promptly in making humanitarian assistance accessible to the victims.
It has been mentioned that in guise of PIL, some of the petitioners have been surreptitiously seeking to make prayers for orders which are in the nature of anticipatory bail and/or for quashing of the FIR.
The Police called it as an 'utter abuse' of the PIL jurisdiction of the court and highlighted that the prayers are being made by Activists or completely unrelated persons.
