2020 Delhi riots: Court orders framing of charges against 25 accused in constable’s murder

“The Constitution does not vest right to any protester, to use violence or to assault anyone or to murder anyone or to damage any property or to rob anyone. Therefore, the argument that this accused was exercising his constitutional rights, is totally misconceived,” noted the court of Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala in its 115-page order.

“The protesters not only gathered to show protest against CAA/NRC, rather they came well equipped with weapons with a mindset to use the same against the police force,” the court added.

The post-mortem report of Ratan Lal showed a firearm wound and 21 external injuries. Along with Lal, the then deputy commissioner of police (DCP) and assistant commissioner of police (ACP) had also sustained serious injuries during. As many as 50 other policemen had also been injured. In all, 700 persons were injured during the riots and 50 were killed.

“After the attempt to block Main Wazirabad Road on February 23, 2020, was neutralised by police, the emphasis on joining the protest in large numbers on February 24 and carrying weapons shows that the organisers and speakers of the protest framed a clear-cut mindset to attack upon police force,” the court noted adding that the attack appeared to be part of a “well-thought strategy”.

As per the prosecution, the riots were the result of a months-long “deep-rooted” conspiracy allegedly hatched after the Citizenship Amendment Bill got a nod from the cabinet in December 2019.

The “conspiracy” was the alleged creation of 23 protest sites (which operated 24×7) in “Muslim majority areas” close to mosques and main roads. The prosecution also alleges it that before the riots of February 2020, a “replica” of the riots took place in December 2019 with “similar characters and modus operandi”.