4 min readNew DelhiFeb 2, 2021 07:52 AM IST
First published on: Feb 2, 2021 at 01:14 AM IST
NEARLY A year after the death of 23-year-old Faizan, who was seen in a video lying injured on the ground as security personnel forced him to sing Vande Mataram and the national anthem during the Delhi riots, Delhi Police Monday told the High Court that they are still trying to ascertain the identity of personnel seen in the video and only one policeman has been “pinpointed on probable basis”. Police also told the court that Faizan and others were kept at Jyoti Nagar police station as per their own wish.
The High Court directed police to state on record whether CCTV cameras of Jyoti Nagar police station were functioning or not at the time. According to his family, Faizan was illegally detained there. He died at a hospital within hours of his release from the police station on February 26.
The court was hearing a petition filed by Faizan’s mother Kismatun (61) for a court-monitored SIT probe into his death. She was represented by advocates Vrinda Grover and Soutik Banerjee before the court of Justice Yogesh Khanna. In the petition, it has been alleged that Faizan was “targeted, brutally assaulted” and “injured by the policemen” at Kardampuri and then subsequently “illegally detained” in an injured condition at Jyoti Nagar police station, where he was denied timely critical medical care resulting in his death later at a hospital.
Grover had earlier argued before court that the police “conveniently” have been claiming that CCTV cameras were not working at the police station.
In a status report, police have said faces of none of the cops are visible in the four video clippings available with them.
The video clips have been sent to the FSL to enhance their quality, it said further. Police also said that neither the source mobile from which the videos were recorded could be traced nor the individual who recorded the videos. No eyewitness has come forward to corroborate the incident, they claimed.
Police said around 170 policemen were on duty at the place of incident, and they have been examined and their mobile phones checked. Their “mobile numbers” have also been taken on record for technical analysis, it said in a status report. Police also said the investigation has revealed that personnel present near the scene had reached from Maujpur Metro station side on 66 Foota Road, but it has also asserted that no official CCTV camera was found nearby.
CCTV cameras of individuals in Kardampuri were either found broken or their directions were changed, as per police.
Police also said it examined policemen carrying teargas guns — one of the personnel in the video was seen holding one and recording the video — and “one has been pinpointed on probable basis”. His mobile phone has been seized and referred to the FSL to get an opinion as to whether the video is shot from his mobile phone. Police said an opinion is awaited in this regard.
Referring to the contents of the video clip in which Faizan and others are seen being assaulted, his mother in the petition said, “The taunts and abuses used by the police alluded that the injured men, simply by virtue of being Muslims, were unpatriotic and were being ‘taught a lesson’.”
The police, in the status report filed before the court on Monday, said Faizan and two others, who were earlier found by them in an injured condition on 66 Foota Road, after being discharged from GTB hospital, were reluctant to go to their respective residences due to the communal tensions and “as per their desire they were brought to and kept at police station Jyoti Nagar for their safety and security”. However, police have also claimed that the investigation, on the basis of a video CD provided by Zee Media, has revealed that Faizan was standing “amongst unruly mob” on February 24.
The police produced the accused in the court of the duty magistrate. 
Share
