Brinda Karat moves Delhi HC seeking early hearing on her plea over Delhi violence
May 09, 2020
New Delhi [India], May 9 : Brinda Karat, leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), has moved Delhi High Court seeking an early hearing on a petition filed by her, pending before the Court, over the violence that took place in North East Delhi in February this year.
Karat is seeking early hearing on her pending plea, which had claimed that Delhi Police was not following certain Sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which was making it difficult for people to find their loved ones, who were separated during the riots.
In her earlier plea, she had sought directions to Delhi Police to upload copies of the FIRs registered over the violence in North East Delhi on Delhi Police website and the copies of FIR, remand application, remand orders and grounds of arrest, and charge-sheet copies be supplied through e-mail/Whatsapp/post to the families and counsels of accused persons.
The fresh petition, filed on Friday, sought an early hearing on the pending petition and said that the first hearing in the matter was held on March 6, 2020, when the court had issued notices to the respondents and directed them to file their reply on the matter.
The court had granted time to the respondents, who had sought more time to file their response on the pleas related to the violence, and listed the matter on March 19.
"Thereafter, due to notification issued by this court in light of the spread of COVID-19, all the matters listed before this Hon'ble Court on March 19, 2020, were automatically adjourned to April 16, 2020, and now stand adjourned to June 16, 2020," the fresh plea stated.
It said that the country is under lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
"However, Delhi Police have continued investigation in connection with certain FIRs related to the February riots. As per news reports, the Ministry of Home Affairs directed Delhi Police to ensure that the probe does not slow down and insisted the police must continue making arrests, resulting in around 50 arrests in the first two weeks of the lockdown itself," the plea read.
"In this situation, when there is limited access to courts and unavailability of lawyers, it is more important on the part of the Delhi Police to follow the law of the land, to comply with the provisions of CrPC with due regard for the health, safety and fundamental rights of the concerned persons," it added.
The plea submitted that during the investigation into the Delhi riots cases, people are suffering and are unable to avail their rights which are available to them at the stages of summoning, detention, arrest and remand due to the shutdown.
Several persons have also given accounts of being detained from their homes and neighbourhoods without any information or notice, the plea said adding that in a few cases, the person's family members were detained for hours and threatened till the time the person whom Delhi police sought to arrest did not produce himself before them.
