Delhi Riots: Probe Committee of Ex-Judges, Civil Servants Urge People to Submit Information
Image Courtesy: New Indian Express
A citizens’ committee comprising former Supreme Court and High Court judges as well as former civil servants and probing the Delhi riots has given a public call inviting people having any information or material related to the February carnage to send the detailed material to the panel.
Based on the information sent by such persons, the committee may invite them for further interactions while keeping their identity confidential, said the public notice issued by the experts’ panel. The last date for submission of information regarding the events around the riots is November 30.
The panel is called the ‘Citizens Committee on the Delhi Riots of February 2020: Context, Events and Aftermath’. It was constituted earlier this month by the Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), a group of former state and central civil servants, to probe the events before, during and after the riots in Northeast Delhi in February 2020. In an earlier statement, the committee said an investigation by an expert group was needed as the probe carried out by the Delhi police had evoked “critical commentary.”
The Committee comprises the following former public functionaries such as Justice Madan B. Lokur, former judge of the Supreme Court as the committee chairperson; Justice A.P. Shah, former Chief Justice of the Madras and Delhi High Courts and former Chairman of Law Commission; Mr. G.K. Pillai, former IAS officer and former Home Secretary at Government of India, among others.
Besides the option of confidentially submitting information and material online here, the material can be sent by post to the following address: Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), Common Cause House, 2nd Floor, Nelson Mandela Marg, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi – 110070.
In the notice, the Committee said it will “collect and scrutinize primary material, including first person account of those who have direct knowledge of the events and issues within the Committee’s purview, FIRs, Charge-sheets and other documents prepared by government agencies, audio-visual and documentary material that have a bearing on matters under examination.” It will also look at secondary material such as reports and accounts in the public domain.
Besides inviting people to share information and material, the Committee has decided to collect and review materials itself while reaching out to those who may have information related to the events around the riots.
The notice stated that the Committee is asking for information and materials from concerned persons in order to inquire what happened before and during the riots, including the response of the state machinery in dealing with the violence, restoring law and order, response of the police in the investigation of the violence and the role of mainstream and social media in spreading both genuine and fake news, etc. The Committee will also “assess the civic administration’s efforts at providing relief and extending reparations to the victims of riots.”
The Committee can be contacted at citizenscommittee2020@gmail.com for any queries by concerned persons.
The Public Notice can be read below.
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