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After the Delhi Police challenged a court order that directed it to file an FIR on the complaint of Mohammad Nasir, who lost his left eye during the Delhi riots, Delhi's Karkardooma court judge Vinod Yadav dismissed the police's petition, slapped a fine of Rs 25,000 on them and called their investigation farcical.
In an strongly worded court order dated 13 July, that comes down heavily on the police for their 'callous' investigation, Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Yadav noted that the concerned petitioner (SHO of Bhajanpura police station) and his supervising officers (from the Delhi Police) 'had miserably failed in their statutory duties in this case'.
The order reads:
Nasir was extremely happy with the order of the court. "Again, the judiciary has not let me down. Really hope that now my FIR is registered soon and I do not have to wait further."
"Justice has been done, albeit late. We welcome this order," the counsel of the accused, Mehmood Pracha, said.
Specifically speaking of the petitioner in the case, who is the SHO of Bhajanpura police station, the order states that the 'petitioner has no reason, occasion or justfication to feel aggrieved by the impugned order (that directed him to register an FIR against the accused).
The court has recalled the previous order which placed a pause on the registeration of FIR. The Quint had reported on the order which was passed on 21 October, as well as the SHO's decision to challenge it.
Commenting on the nature of the investigation in the case, the court said that it was not able to persuade himself about the efficacy and fairness of the investigation that was carried out. "The investigation even in case FIR No.64/2020, PS Bhajanpura has been done in a most casual, callous and farcical manner," the order reads.
Not only that, but the order says that the 'defence for the accused persons named in Nasir's complaint has been sought to be created by the Police'.
The court also said that the respondent, Nasir, was 'free to exhaust his remedies available to him in accordance with law to get a separate FIR registered in respect of his complaint dated 03.07.2020 as well as under Section 166-A IPC, if so advised'.
Nasir had filed a written complaint against the accused, naming them, on 19 March 2020 and has waited for over a year while the police refuses to register a case against them.
Nasir, 34, who works as a junior assistant at the National Cadet Corps, was on his way back from Max Hospital in Shalimar Bagh with his sister on 24 February. “She was getting discharged after a kidney stone operation. We were returning with a cab driver who was Muslim. Many roads were closed and rioters were making the rounds, we were all very scared,” he said,
After taking detours and struggling to get home, Nasir, his sister, and the cab driver reached his residence. Nasir asked the cab driver to stay back for a while.
“He stayed back but his wife kept calling him. After some time, I stepped out with him to drop him close to the Gokulpuri flyover. I felt like I knew the area and could take him through a shortcut. I was also very grateful to him, for putting his life on the line and dropping us home safely, despite the rioters. Since I was from the area, I was confident no one would attack me,” Nasir said.
They were also armed with swords, sticks, petrol bombs etc.
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