The Delhi High Court directed on Monday that a man’s statement, who was one of five individuals forced to sing ‘Vande Mataram’ during the 2020 North-East Delhi riots, be recorded before the concerned Magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC within one week.
Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani stated that, Mohd. Wasim, who was a minor at the time of the occurrence, be brought before the Magistrate for his statement to be recorded.
Wasim moved an intervention application in a pending petition moved by Kismatun, the mother of Faizan, 23, who died in custody after reportedly being beaten up by police. She is seeking a court-monitored SIT investigation into her son’s death.
The incident stems from a viral social media video in which Faizan, along with four other guys, including Wasim, were allegedly beaten by police while being forced to sing ‘Vande Mataram’.
According to his family, Delhi police illegally imprisoned Faizan and denied him crucial health care, as a result of which he succumbed to injuries on February 26, 2020. He died at city’s GTB hospital within 24 hours of his release from Jyoti Nagar police station, where he was taken after being allegedly assaulted by police officials.
Advocate Mehmood Pracha, who appeared on behalf of Wasim, stated that the intervention application is based on the fact that Wasim was an eyewitness to the entire occurrence, including what happened with Faizan at the time at Jyoti Nagar Police station.
On the other hand, Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad, appearing for Delhi Police, said that Wasim refused to participate in recording his statement before the Magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC, despite being repeatedly urged to do so.
Pracha, on the other hand, argued that Wasim is ready and willing for the statement to be recorded.
“Let the applicant appear before the Magistrate and make a statement under Section 164 of the CrPC within one week. Let a copy be placed on record before the next hearing date,” the court ordered.
Advocate Vrinda Grover, who represents Kismatun, argued that the SHO and other Jyoti Nagar police officials had yet to be probed or even brought into the zone of suspicion.
“I have maintained from the start that there are two sets of police teams responsible for Kismatun son’s death in custody. One assaulted Faizan, the other kept him in jail and assaulted him further, and denied him emergency medical attention while he was in custody. The personnel who were on duty at the police station from the night of February 24 to the night of February 25 is a matter of public record. That particular group of cops are not even in the zone of suspicion. The SHO is forging the official records. No other officer is in the interrogation zone,” Grover stated.
Grover also stated that it is an admitted case of the Delhi Police that Faizan was not involved in rioting and requested that a fair and just probe into his death be undertaken by a SIT constituted by the court.
“There is no arrest of known individuals. What hope does the petitioner have in this process now? And without the intervention of the constitutional court…there is no hope of justice,” she lamented.
The case has been rescheduled for further consideration on May 30, 2023.
Kismatun had previously argued that her son’s death was a “hate crime and custodial murder” and that he had been “targeted for his religion.”
