INTRODUCTION:
In 2020, north east Delhi riots case where the Delhi court scrutinizes the role of investigating officer (IO) in investigating the case in January 2025. It came to know that the accused person on bhati is innocent and falsely charged by the investigating officer based on the manipulative video as the evidence. The Delhi court highlights the issue of accountability and reliability of the IO investigating officers’ investigation in the case.
BACKGROUND:
The issues are related to the north east riot which resulted in the violence, properties are damaged, people injured, loss of life etc.., as the result the Delhi police filed an multiple FIR first information report. The present accused Sandeep bhati who is the accused in FIR 98/2020, registered in the Karwal Nagar police station. The case against one Sandeep bhati is based on the information received from the Guru Teg Bahadar hospital about the injured person named Shahrukh.
KEY POINTS:
Merging of multiple FIRs: The investigating officers combined the six FIRs which are raised by the six separate complaints into the one single FIR, which is not practically applicable in the court and it is often criticized as “UNPROFESSIONAL CONDUCT”. The Delhi court acknowledged the lapses in the investigation into each individual complaint.
Improper investigation: The court observed the failure on the part of the IO investigating officer in conducting a thorough investigation. For instance, the IO investigating officer has not found the time in which all the six complaints took place and has not collected any concrete evidence other than the 161 statements from the witnesses and the manipulated video as the evidence.
Manipulated video evidence: The court identified that the produced video of the prosecution is not the full version of the video. The io investigating officer have shrugged off the part of the video where the accused Sandeep bhati tried to stop the violence. The clip which supports the innocence of the accused Sandeep bhati was removed by the police investigating officer to accuse him falsely under this charge of attempt to murder.
Acquitted of the accused: The Delhi court acquitted the accused Sandeep bhati from this case based on the grounds that there is no concrete evidence to prosecute against the accused and the failure of thorough investigation by the investigating officer.
RECENT DEVELOPMENT:
The Delhi court identifies the irregularity in the police investigation and orders the Delhi commissioner of police to take charge and assess the conduct of the IO and to take the appropriate measures and actions against the investigating officer.
CONCLUSIONS:
This order of the Delhi court emphasized the importance of the report and investigation of the investigating officer and its reliability in convicting the person on the particular offence. The life of the person is dependent upon the final report submitted by the investigation officer. Hence the court scrutinized the Delhi police who are handling the 2020 north east Delhi riot issue. This order by the Delhi court acts as the remainder of the unbiased investigations in deciding the case.
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WRITTEN BY: MUTHULAKSHMI B
