The Delhi High Court on Thursday issued a notice to Delhi Police’s Crime Branch in a plea filed by the mother of 23 year old Faizan who was brutally assaulted by policemen in uniform during the northeast Delhi anti-Muslim pogrom and succumbed to his injuries a few days later.
In February, a video of Faizan went viral. Shot during the Delhi pogrom, it shows a group of policemen assaulting five Muslim men – who are lying on the floor and writhing in pain – and making them sing the national anthem and ‘Vande Mataram’. Faizan, who sustained bullet injuries, died on February 28.
The court has further directed the Crime Branch to file a status report regarding the progress of the investigation into Faizan’s death, Live Law reported.
The matter has now been listed on 1st February, 2021.
In the plea, Faizan’s mother Kismatun sought for the constitution of a court-monitored Special Investigation Team to conduct a fair and impartial investigation into the custodial death of her son. It also seeks for periodic filing of Status Reports before the court, and for a detailed affidavit supported by relevant material regarding the functioning of CCTV cameras at the concerned police station.
According to Live Law, the plea also states that in the intervening night before Faizan’s death, Faizan had described to his mother, the torture that had been inflicted on him.
It is said in the plea by Faizan’s mother that the injured Faizan had been kept in illegal detention at the Jyoti Nagar Police Station, and denied access to medical care. Further, it was only when his condition took a turn for the worse and it appeared that he may not survive, was he released, she said.
“The mere release from the police station prior to his death would not absolve the policemen of having committed murder in custody, and the Petitioner is seeking justice for the same,” reads the plea.
“It is now clear the investigation conducted by the Crime Branch is a sham, designed at shielding the guilty men in uniform, rather than investigating the crime,” Faizan’s mother states in the plea.
“The investigation conducted by the Respondent No. 2 does not inspire confidence, and there is a grave and real apprehension that the tardy, shoddy and sham investigation will shield the real perpetrators of the heinous crime, as they are policemen,” it also said.
Faizan’s mother was represented by Advocate Vrinda Grover.
