New Delhi— In a significant development, a Delhi court has ordered the registration of a fresh First Information Report (FIR) based on a Muslim man’s complaint regarding a targeted attack on him and his family during the 2020 North-East Delhi pogrom. The court observed that the police failed to act upon his serious allegations involving hate speech, looting, and violence, as reported by LiveLaw.
The direction came from Judicial Magistrate First Class Isra Zaidi at Karkardooma Courts, who stated that the complaint by Rahees Ahmed “discloses commission of grave and cognizable offences,” including communal violence, arson, and use of hate speech. The court emphasized that such serious allegations could not be brushed aside by clubbing them under general or unrelated FIRs.
Ahmed alleged that on the day of the 2020 pogrom, a mob — armed with sticks, iron rods, and petrol bombs — specifically targeted his family. The attackers, identified in the complaint as Vinod, Tinku, Aadesh Sharma, Mahesh, Suresh, Monu, Anshu Pandit, Rajpal, and others, allegedly vandalized and looted his home, stealing valuables including jewellery and cash. They also set fire to a tent house owned by him.
The complaint details chilling accounts of hate-filled violence. One accused, Aadesh Sharma, allegedly held a firearm and declared, “Mulle tujhe aur tere pure khandan ko aaj katal karna hai, tumhe yahan rehne ka koi hak nahi pakistaniyo” (“You Muslim, today I will kill you and your entire family; you Pakistanis have no right to live here”).
The mob reportedly raised slogans such as “Desh ke gaddaron ko goli maaro saalon ko” (“Shoot the traitors of the country”), “Mullo ke do sthan, Pakistan ya kabristan” (“Muslims have only two places – Pakistan or the graveyard”), and “Jagdish Pradhan zindabad, Kapil Mishra zindabad”.
The court also noted specific instances of incitement, including Tinku’s alleged instruction to Suresh to hurl a petrol bomb at Ahmed’s house, which was subsequently carried out. Another individual, Rakesh, reportedly incited the mob by quoting Mohan Singh Bist: “Puri raat tumhari hai, koi bhi mulla bachna nahi chahiye” (“You have the whole night, not a single Muslim should survive”).
While Ahmed initially approached the police, the FIR that was registered (No.117/2020 at PS Karawal Nagar) was found to be unrelated, addressing a separate incident at a shop owned by Aazad Singh, and lacking any reference to communal slogans or hate speech.
The court emphasized that Ahmed’s case involved a different set of accused, time, and place, and thus could not be merged with other FIRs. “The incident in the present complaint pertains to a different time with involvement of different persons and no commonality thereof,” the court observed.
Consequently, Judicial Magistrate Zaidi instructed the Station House Officer (SHO) of Karawal Nagar to register a separate FIR and conduct a fair and impartial investigation. The SHO has been ordered to submit a compliance report within seven days.
However, the court clarified that this directive does not imply the immediate arrest of the accused persons.
This order is seen as a rare legal acknowledgement of the failures in handling several complaints during the 2020 Delhi violence, which left dozens dead and many homes and businesses destroyed, with a disproportionate impact on the Muslim community.
