New Delhi, February 23 Six years after the communal riots that shook northeast Delhi in February 2020, activists and political leaders on Monday claimed that justice remains delayed, investigations are flawed, and rehabilitation is inadequate for many affected families.
Speaking at a memorial organized by Karwan-e-Mohabbat, a campaign that provides legal and social support to survivors of hate crimes, the speakers alleged that key questions surrounding the violence and its aftermath have yet to be addressed.
The violence, which lasted around four days from February 23 to 27 that year, left 53 people dead and injured hundreds, besides causing large-scale damage to homes, shops, and places of worship.
Activists demanded the constitution of an official inquiry commission and fair compensation for all victims, particularly those headed by women.
Speaking at the event, senior CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat said that, unlike earlier instances of large-scale communal violence, no official inquiry had been set up into the Delhi riots.
"Following various instances of violence, including the Gujarat violence, Commissions of Inquiry were formed. But after the 2020 riots, no official commission was established," Karat claimed and added that some were conducted by civil society, some by retired judges, but there has been no actual official Commission of Inquiry.
Karat further claimed that some affected families have received less than the amount declared by the then Delhi government.
The event also featured documentaries recounting the experiences of victims. One film focused on Mohammad Waqeel, who was attacked with acid during the riots and lost his eyesight.
On February 25, 2020, Waqeel and his family were on the terrace of their two-storey home in Shiv Vihar in northeast Delhi when his son urged them to run. As Waqeel looked downstairs, he saw a mob gathered outside, and among them a man holding a bottle of acid.
"Even before I could react, he just flung it in my direction. Some of it spilled on my daughter as well, who was standing next to me," Waqeel said in the documentary.
Last year, Waqeel accidentally fell from his terrace due to his loss of vision and succumbed to his injuries in December, the documentary showed.
One of the activists said the conviction rate in cases related to the riots has remained low.
"The conviction rate against people who are said to have committed crimes during those days is very, very low," former Supreme Court judge Madan B Lokur said.
He also questioned delays in trial proceedings. Referring to cases including those of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, Lokur said it took nearly two years to provide the accused with copies of charge sheets running into thousands of pages.
The event also featured human rights activist John Dayal, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha, and former Union minister Salman Khurshid as speakers. Several other documentaries based on victims' accounts, and those of political prisoners, were screened during the programme.