The Delhi High Court directed the police to record the statement of one of the five men, allegedly beaten by cops and forced to sing the national anthem, before the magistrate within a week.

Five men were beaten and forced to sing the national anthem by Delhi police cops during North East Delhi riots. The statement of a youth to be recorded, who claimed to be an eyewitness to Faizan who succumbed to his injuries, who was also forced to sing the national anthem and beaten up leading to his death during the 2020 northeast Delhi riots.
On Monday, Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani ordered that the Statement of Mohd Wasim, who has expressed a wish to record his statement, be recorded before the Magistrate within a week.
The matter has been listed on May 30 for further hearing. On the next date, the Special public prosecutor will argue on behalf of Delhi Police.

The High Court passed the order while hearing the plea of Kismatun, the mother of deceased Faizan.

Advocate Mehmood Pracha appeared for Mohd Wasim and argued that he was an eyewitness to the incident of beating and forcing the victim to sing the national anthem. He would like to record his statement.

On the other hand, Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad submitted that Delhi police had asked Wasim to join the investigation but he did not.

After hearing the submission, the bench passed the order.
The petitioner Kismatun had moved a plea alleging that her son was first beaten by the cops at Kardampuri and then taken into illegal detention at Jyoti Nagar Police Station. He was not provided with any medical assistance during his detention resulting in his death.

The petitioner has sought a direction for investigation by an SIT under the monitoring of the High Court into the incident and the role of Delhi police cops.

Petitioner’s counsel argued, “Faizan was assaulted in the Jyoti Nagar area but Delhi police’s SIT has not yet done anything to probe the role of the SHO of the concerned police station where Faizan was lodged.”

“The SHO and other police officials are forging the record, still, they are out of the probe,” advocate Vrinda Grover submitted.

Advocate Grover said, “Is there any different threshold when the accused are in uniform?”