Karwan-e-Mohabbat marks the fifth anniversary of the anti-Muslim violence; victims narrate their harrowing tales at the event
Abdul Bari Masoud | Clarion India
NEW DELHI – Prominent activists, former civil servants and lawyers have lambasted the Delhi Police and the Delhi administration for their failure to provide justice to the victims of the 2020 Northeast communal carnage.
At an event here on Wednesday to mark the fifth anniversary of the anti-Muslim violence, speakers also accused the Delhi police of arraigning riot victims themselves and conveniently shielding the perpetrators. The meeting expressed solidarity with the families of the victims and vowed to continue the struggle to bring the real culprits of the violence to justice.
The February 23-26 violence in 2020 led to the deaths of 53 people and left hundreds injured. Besides, properties and infrastructure worth crores of rupees were destroyed or looted. Peaceful protests against the discriminatory Citizenship (Amendment) Act were turned into violence by Hindutva supporters with the active connivance of the police.
To mark the fifth anniversary of the pogrom, the Karwan-e-Mohabbat organised the commemorative event in the presence of the families of the victims and survivors.
Karwan-e-Mohabbat is the countrywide civilian campaign that was first launched in September 2017 in solidarity with the victims of mob lynching or the victimised during communal or religiously motivated violence.
Karwan-e-Mohabbat’s report “The Absent State: Comprehensive State Denial of Reparation & Recompense to the Survivors of the 2020 Delhi Pogroms” was also released on the sidelines.
Noted activist and former IAS officer Harsh Mander said there were several reasons for organising the event: “First for solidarity, to reassure the survivors that five years down the road, they have not been forgotten.
The second is to acknowledge and reflect on the profound failures of justice, compensation, the political process and the stubborn social divides.
Prominent activists, former civil servants and lawyers attended the evnet on the fifth anniversary of North east Delhi communal carnage in New Delhi
And, thirdly to remember and honour people who saved lives and shrines of the other community.”
Mander highlighted how the bonds between different communities in the country have been shattered and how the denial of justice and reparation by the government has been harsher than it was after the 2002 Gujarat pogrom.
“We want to say to those who have gathered here, that we stand with you in your pain.” The event continued with a ‘Tribute to Those Who Lost Their Lives in the Riots’. Those present stood in a sombre silence as the names of all those who died in Delhi’s 2020 violence were read aloud.
In his introductory remarks, author and activist John Dayal from the Karwan-e-Mohabbat underlined that the struggle for justice transcends the question of Northeast Delhi – referencing Congress leader Sajjan Kumar’s prison sentence this past week and the delays faced in recourse for past violence in Meerut and Moradabad. He discussed the irony of a “reversed justice system” that causes police personnel in our country to target riot victims even as the government continues to deny FCRA authorisation to the few organisations which assist victims, thus undermining their access to justice.
A roundtable of survivors then spoke about their lives during and after the 2020 Delhi pogrom. They shared horrifying accounts of the actual level of cruelty committed during the violence. One of them recounted watching Hindutva rioters beat, shoot, and burn his brother’s body. He then described the year-long ordeal of attempting to get his brother’s foot, the final remnant of his body from an apathetic government. Another survivor described approaching the government for compensation, only to have the wrong name written on his cheque with no clear route for appeal. A young man recounted police officers, who were tasked with escorting his injured family member, laughing at his desperate condition. Upon arriving at the hospital, the doctor attempted to intimidate his family into leaving the victim’s side.
The findings of the Constitutional Conduct Group’s (CCG) report “Uncertain Justice: Citizens’ Committee Report” also came for discussion. Tributes were paid to the late Sunder Burra, coordinator of the report.
A summary of the CCG report’s findings was presented by former Home Secretary Gopal K. Pillai and former diplomat Ashok Sharma. They detailed how the Union Government, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Delhi Police failed to stop the violence in the national capital. The Delhi Police should “hang their heads in shame,” Pillai added, citing the copious evidence of poor investigation, fabricated witnesses, biased action, and the unlawful arrest of at least 18 innocent Muslim men and women on false UAPA charges. Sharma further highlighted how instigators, such as Union minister Anurag Thakur and Kapil Mishra, have been rewarded with greater public office posts and face no legal consequences.
In his further evaluation of the CCG report, APCR activist Nadeem Khan detailed how, despite hundreds of complaints, police departments, DCPs, the Joint Commissioner of Police, Manish Sisodia, Arvind Kejriwal, and officials at all levels of government refused to step in and stop the situation. He also related incidents in which police officers assaulted civilians, civil society volunteers, and hospital staff who attempted to step in and offer assistance to the community. Khan blamed inept lawyers and a hostile legal system for the first time in India’s history that no case of persecution was successful in this case of communal violence.
Qurban Ali, a former BBC journalist, went on to highlight the government’s and the courts’ bias, describing how, in his own instance, the Delhi Police filed a formal complaint against him after he filed a PIL against hate speech.
Advocate Suroor Mander drew attention to the Delhi government’s scant success in providing compensation to the deceased riot victims during the first six months. Following it, there was a basic and systemic failure by the Delhi Government, SDM, and NEDRCC to provide compensation for any kind of harm. Akanksha Rao observed that many compensation claims were incorrectly rejected or withdrawn due to institutional failure, “shifting goalposts,” and lack of an appellate procedure during the coronavirus pandemic.
The most populous district in the Delhi NCR, according to Mahenaz Khan, is Northeast Delhi. Tarannum described how the Karwan-e-Mohabbat team has still been offering comprehensive and extensive family care to victims of the pogroms. The uncertainty brought forth by violence exacerbates basic issues like illness, women’s assistance, and children’s education. Suroor Mander underlined that Karwan-e-Mohabbat has been performing this task solely because the government fails to fulfill its fundamental obligations.
Gufran talked on how government hospitals’ dearth of essential medical supplies — such as an ambulance, medication, and doctors — caused injuries, disabilities, and fatalities that private hospitals have determined might have been avoided. There was no government provision for giving full compensation to the special category of medical cost reimbursement that arises from these lingering injuries.
A large number of people from across the society attended the event at India Islamic Cultural Center in New Delhi on Wedesnday.
Dilshad described his experience helping the victims submit 130 claims to the SDM and the NEDRCC. He explained a system in which victims would have to wait for hours every day for weeks on end while their claims were arbitrarily denied. In all of Dilshad’s cases, the government employed deception and intimidation to make it apparent that claimants would face harassment if they persisted in pursuing damages.
Advocate Chirayu bemoaned the fact that not a single victim was ever given the opportunity to speak or provide an explanation to the government compensation commission, which was led by retired judges from India’s several high courts. These commissions had recruited unqualified independent “loss assessors” at will, and they would routinely underreport the amount of compensation that riot victims needed. The commission would not explain any deviations from these loss assessors’ reports. Chirayu explained the Mumtaz Ali case in which the commission rejected any photographic proof of a burned-out business and damaged inventory.
Failure of Political Process
Social scientist Rahul Mukherji and Prof Zoya Hasan talked about the political process’ shortcomings in the lead-up to the violence in Delhi. Prof Hasan underlined that the CAA, which was passed without any political consultation and due democratic process, resulted in the greatest mass mobilisation of Muslims in India since the 1930s anti-colonial agitation. The state’s reaction to this movement was one of repression rather than reconciliation. By dissecting India’s religious pluralism’s past, Mukharji included a fervent defence of secularism.
Senior Supreme Court advocates Prashant Bhushan and Chander Uday Singh highlighted the “Failures of Criminal Justice” in the wake of violence five years ago. Bhushan explained the judicial system’s manipulation by the current BJP government. Judges who render decisions in the ruling party’s favour get plum positions. Referring to the Babri Mosque case and other cases, he said all judges were awarded due to their favourable judgments to the ruling party. However, judges who are strong, capable, and have a history of autonomous judicial activity are not favoured. To get leverage over judges and their families for blackmail, the government requests that its investigative agencies — the CBI, CID, and Income Tax Department — look into the matter. Bhushan said these judges should be tracked and their misconduct and corruption openly denounced.
Chander Uday Singh highlighted the intentional falsification of evidence by police personnel during their investigations. Legal action against corrupt public officials and a nationwide uproar should be triggered by documented evidence of such incidents, he said.
Salman Khurshid, a former Union law and justice minister, praised the Karwan-e-Mohabbat and Harsh Mander for their ongoing efforts. In particular, Khurshid characterised the impunity that followed for victims of violence as a betrayal of the country’s commitment to participatory democracy.
Speakers also highlighted the dubious role played by the Aam Aadmi Party government and its apathetic attitude towards the victims.
he Absent State
Karwan-e-Mohabbat’s report documented the Delhi government’s failure to properly compensate victims of the 2020 pogrom.
The report’s main finding is that the union and state administrations failed miserably to repair the damage caused by the 2020 Delhi communal disorder, including rescue, relief, rehabilitation, compensation, and mending social divisions.
The result is that almost five years after the violence, and following the state government’s initial distribution of death compensation and ex-gratia relief, essentially no compensation has been given to the survivors of the victims, and there doesn’t appear to be any chance that this will happen anytime soon.
The event also saw screening of a BBC documentary titled “Delhi Dangon Ke Mamlon Mein Bari Kyon Ho Rahe Hain Log” describing the failures of legal justice involved in the violence.
A short film Mazhab Nahi Sikhata produced by Karwan-e-Mohabbat was also screened.
