“Delhi riots”: Death of man made to sing national anthem, Yet to ascertain the identity

Approximately a year after the death of 23-year-old Faizan, who was noticed in a video lying wounded on the spot as security personnel compelled him to sing Vande Mataram and the national anthem while the Delhi riots, Delhi Police Monday told the High Court that they are still attempting to determine the name of personnel noticed in the video and only one policeman has been “pinpointed on the probable basis”. Police also told the court that Faizan and others were held at Jyoti Nagar police station as per their personal desire.

The High Court ordered police to assert on the report whether CCTV cameras of Jyoti Nagar police station were operating or not at the time. According to his family, Faizan was unlawfully arrested there. He died at a hospital within hours of his liberation from the police station on February 26.

The court was listening to a petition registered by Faizan’s mother Kismatun (61) for a court-monitored SIT inquiry into his death. She was portrayed by advocates Vrinda Grover and Soutik Banerjee before the court of Justice Yogesh Khanna. In the petition, it has been claimed that Faizan was “targeted, brutally assaulted” and “injured by the policemen” at Kardampuri and then consequently “illegally detained” in a wounded state at Jyoti Nagar police station, where he was rejected appropriate critical medical care occurring in his death later at a hospital. Grover had earlier claimed before the court that the police “conveniently” have been alleging that CCTV cameras were not operating at the police station.

In a report, police have declared the faces of none of the cops are noticeable in the four video clippings open with them. The video clips have been sent to the FSL to improve their quality, it said besides. Police also said that neither the source mobile from which the videos were registered could be pursued nor the individual who filmed the videos. No eyewitness has come forward to support the incident, they claimed. Police said around 170 policemen were on station at the place of the event, and they have been reviewed and their mobile phones examined. Their “mobile numbers” have also been brought on account for technical analysis, it said in a status report. Police also said the inquiry has exposed that personnel present near the scene had transferred from Maujpur Metro station side on 66 Foota Road, but it has also stated that no official CCTV camera was located nearby.

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CCTV cameras of people in Kardampuri were either located broken or their charges were modified, as per police. Police also said it reviewed policemen carrying teargas guns one of the personnel in the video was seen carrying one and recording the video and “one has been pinpointed on the probable basis”. His mobile phone has been taken and assigned to the FSL to get an opinion as to whether the video is shot from his mobile phone. Police said an opinion is expected in this concern.

Relating to the contents of the video clip in which Faizan and others are seen being attacked, his mother in the appeal said, “The taunts and abuses used by the police alluded that the injured men, simply under being Muslims, were unpatriotic and were being ‘taught a lesson’.”