New Delhi: A body of former civil servants has invited six experts, including four retired Supreme Court and high court judges, to conduct an independent probe into the Northeast Delhi riots.
The need for an expert committee probe has been necessitated by criticism that the Delhi Police probe into the riots has evoked, said the body, Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG).
The committee will conduct a thorough investigation into what transpired before, during and after the riots.
The Northeast Delhi riots in February had left 53 people dead. The Delhi Police has since arrested several student leaders and activists, including Umar Khalid, under the stringent anti-terror act, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
Also read: Details of Delhi riots witnesses ‘inadvertently’ put with charge sheet copies, police say
Committee members
In a statement Sunday, the CCG said the expert committee has been constituted to include members of the judiciary, civil service and the police who “would be best suited to contribute to an objective and fair understanding of the riots and their aftermath”.
Accordingly, four former judges, one former civil servant and one former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer have been invited to form the panel.
These are: Justice Madan Lokur, former Supreme Court judge; Justice A.P. Shah, former Chief Justice of Delhi and Madras High Courts; Justice R.S. Sodhi, former Delhi HC judge; Justice Anjana Prakash, former Patna High Court judge; G.K. Pillai, former home secretary; and Meeran Chadha Borwankar (IPS), former Director General, Bureau of Police Research and Development, Government of India.
The CCG statement said the panel has been formed “considering the horrific nature of the riots in North East Delhi in February 2020, the scale of violence, loss of lives and the resulting communal divide between communities”.
The panel will be called the ‘Citizens Committee on the Delhi Riots of February 2020: Contexts, Events and Aftermath’.
It will broadly focus on: inquiring into the events before and during the riots including the response of the state machinery in containing and dealing with the violence; analysing the response of the police in probing the riots; examining the role of social media and its impact on events before during and after the riots; and the civic administration’s efforts in providing relief.
The statement didn’t specify when the panel will start functioning, but said the panel is expected to submit its report 12 weeks after it begins work.
The CCG identifies itself as a collective of former civil servants who have served at both central and state levels.
Also read: Delhi HC grants bail to Tahir Hussain aide in riots case, says witnesses ‘planted’
TWO MORE NAMES IN YOUR LIST SHOULD BE THERE…….(1) JUSTICE(RETD) RANJAN GOGOI AND(2)JUSTICE(RETD) ARUN MISHRA !!!
Without a legal mandate any investigation will have no formal access to records so the conclusions can only be subjective and open to credibility question, it will be a good issue for the media.
When matter of riots is already sub-judice , what is necessity of parallel probe ? Matter is on first stage of judicial review . Every aggrieved party has right to appeal to higher judicial courts . It seems that this exercise is planned to discredit , the Government machinery and is going to be a political activity whose outcome can be predicted even before alleged probe is initiated. The honourable ex-Judges and bureaucrats should avoid this type of political activities.
Already there more politicians in the country than that are actually needed .
Please do not publish such news . The body of former corrupt civil servants trying to find the truth by constituting the body of extremely partial and biased personalities of past, No use only waste of time.
Known urban naxals friends and instigator of award aapsi gang will look to find their own complicity and absolve themselves and instead name bjp leaders and Delhi police guilty.
For this sham you need two minutes why charade over two weeks.
No CCTV proof found. No photo videos found. And everything is done based on whatsapp chats .Btw see latest News High court is not agreeing with the investigation. So now court leftist? Judge is anti national? You don’t know what actually happened in Delhi Riots you were just taking poison from Media. Please start to accept the truth. Media doens’t decide who is culprit who is not. I know you guys will start boycotting Court also if the judgment is against your idiology.
Who are these guys ? Just another left liberal NGO propelled team