New Delhi: The Delhi government has expressed concern over “lack of cooperation” from the Delhi Police in providing certain details about the February 2020 riots, which it said “hampered” the disbursal of compensation among the victims.
The fact was highlighted in a report prepared by Committee on Welfare of Minorities chief Amanatullah Khan and was presented in Delhi Assembly Thursday.
This is the first report prepared by the minority panel on the north-east Delhi riots that took place between 23 February and 27 February 2020, killing at least 53 people and injuring 581.
Pinning blame on the Delhi Police, the report running into 13 pages, a copy of which was accessed by ThePrint, said: “The committee would like to place on record its appreciation for the Department of Home GNCTD (Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi) for providing full support throughout the course of meetings. However, the committee’s objective of ensuring prompt relief for the victims was dependent on the full cooperation of the Delhi Police, which was not forthcoming.”
It added: “Delhi Police’s reluctance to share information seriously hampered the functioning of the Committee.”
The report also said the committee was hopeful the situation will improve in future.
Khan said in the report there are still many victims who are running from pillar to post to receive compensation.
A year since the riots, there should have been no victim “struggling to receive the compensation they deserve”, the report said, even as it took into account delay due to the nationwide lockdown because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Also read: Break down civil-military silos, indigenise customs & doctrines, Modi tells armed forces
Panel suggests new team for reassessment
The committee said in its report it came across multiple cases where remarks by the officers who conducted the survey in riot-affected areas to decide on the compensation amount did not match the evidence provided by some members of the panel.
“The committee believes that there could have been negligence on the part of the first verification team or it could have been a simple error of judgement,” it said.
The report presented in the assembly said this could lead to “more mistrust” among people about the government’s ability to handle such an issue.
Calling for a fair chance of reassessment, Khan said in the conclusion of the report that a “new team comprising of representatives from the office of the Divisional Commissioner, the Delhi Waqf Board and MLAs of affected constituencies be created to conduct a physical survey of such cases”.
He also recommended that the process of filing the compensation forms should be resumed only for those who could not apply last year. “An effective mechanism should be put in place to avoid duplication of entries in order to save effort and time.”
Directions have been given to the divisional commissioner to submit an action taken report (ATR) within a month from the report’s submission in the assembly.
ThePrint had reported last month how the commission appointed by the Delhi High Court to disburse compensation for the victims is yet to rule on any of the cases it has received.
In many cases, the minority panel’s report noted, some claims of compensation were rejected as the assessment team was not able to ascertain the occurrence of the damage, especially in cases of loot and vandalism. The Delhi Waqf Board had received a list of 218 cases from victims for reassessment.
The report also said how it had to request Mustafabad MLA Haji Yunus to physically visit some of the affected areas after complaints of inappropriate reassessment were received. The panel said it received information that a total of 218 cases that were not reassessed, but it was a reproduction of the previous remarks by the verification team that were sent across to the panel members.
Yunus presented a list of such cases with documented photographs and videos to the committee, which then forwarded them to the divisional commissioner.
(Edited by Sanghamitra Mazumdar)
Also read: Break down civil-military silos, indigenise customs & doctrines, Modi tells armed forces