New Delhi: Is the Delhi Police being handled with kid gloves when it

comes to allegations of complicity in Delhi riots? Why are allegations of a

biased investigation – in which anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act activists
are being arrested without any evidence – being ignored by the courts?

Apart from allegations of colluding with rioters or engaging in violence

against Muslims themselves, the Delhi Police have also been accused of
not registering FIRs on complaints of Muslim riot survivors, especially
cases where the rioters have been identified and named.

Here is the story of three such complaints filed five months ago. In each
case, the complainants say they are in the dark about what the police has
done since.

When a mosque was attacked

It was an evening Khursheed Saifi will never forget. He says when he

closes his eyes, the whole episode plays out in front of him as though he
were watching a film. He wakes up at night shivering, his heart racing and
his body drenched in sweat.

Saifi says he was inside the Farooqia masjid in Mustafabad, northeast

Delhi, when rioters and men in uniform attacked the anti-CAA protest at
Brijpuri Puliya next door and then wreaked havoc inside the mosque.

The attack took place on February 25 at 6:30 pm. Not only did Khursheed
witness the violence that evening, he himself was brutally assaulted. One of
his eyes was permanently damaged and his scalp literally had to be stitched
back together.

“I was coming back from Mohan Nagar and had no idea riots had broken
out near my neighbourhood. I somehow escaped the violence and took
shelter in the mosque, but they entered the mosque and asked me to show
them my identity card. They were not policemen; they were dressed in …
paramilitary uniforms. They saw my ID and realised that I am a Muslim, so
they started beating me up…” he says.

Though Khursheed was able to identify the men who attacked him, the fact
that they were accompanied by men in uniform made him meant he was too
scared to approach the police. He claims he could not bring himself to trust
men in uniform anymore. Within a fortnight of the incident, plain-clothed
officers of Delhi Police’s Special Cell started detaining young men from
Mustafabad, Chandbagh and other riot affected areas. News of people
being picked up from street corners and homes, at odd hours, spread further
panic and fear amongst residents. There were also rumours that those who
were approaching the police to file complaints were being harassed and
detained. Khursheed stayed home, too scared to venture out and too terror-
stricken to appeal for help. It was finally with the help of a team of lawyers
that he mustered the courage to approach the police.

On March 15, nearly 20 days after the events he witnessed and personally
suffered in, Khursheed filed a complaint at the Delhi Police help desk at the
Idgah relief camp. The complaint was received as Diary No. 61 and bears
the stamp of Dayalpur Police Station in North-East Delhi.

In his complaint, Khursheed identified three people from Brijpuri by name

– Rahul Verma, Arun Basoya and Chawla – and said they were part of a
group which attacked the anti-CAA protest site on Brijpuri Pulia  with the
help of the police. The protest site had a large gathering of women from the
neighbourhood. He said in his complaint:

“These people were carrying wooden sticks, swords, tridents, spears, petrol
bombs and stones. They fired gun shots at the women and attacked them
with stones and sticks. In the meantime Rahul Verma and Arun Basoya
threw a petrol bomb that had been made with a bottle because of which the
tent caught fire and people started running, causing chaos. At this time, I
was  standing at the gate of the mosque. Then some policemen, people
dressed in blue uniforms and the rioters entered the mosque and started
attacking namaazis [people who had come to offer namaaz] with swords,
wooden sticks and firing at them.”
 Shelf with burnt copies of the Quran inside Farooqia Masjid. Photo: Seemi Pasha

Khursheed claims that those who managed to run outside the mosque were
fired at by policemen waiting on the road.

In his complaint, Khursheed said the three men he identified by name were
part of the mob which attacked people inside the mosque.

“Arun Basoya, who was carrying petrol bombs, started throwing them
inside the mosque. He also threw a petrol bomb at the cupboard in which
copies of the Quran were kept saying, ‘Aren’t these the books that you
consider so great, look how they will be set on fire.’ He then threw a petrol
bomb at copies of the Quran Sharif because of which all of them were set
ablaze. Arun Basoya then screamed and asked his friends to kill Maulvi
Sahab and his friends. He said, ‘Kill the maulvi and his friends and then we
will build a mandir at this place.’

“After this they attacked Maulvi Sahab and Muezzin Sahab, hitting them
with wooden and iron rods. When I moved forward to protect them, Rahul
Verma hit me with a rod which hit me in my eye. The second rod hit me on
my head and I fell down on the ground. Then they launched an attack on
me with sticks and rods. Somehow I managed to escape.”
Khursheed’s complaint was received by the police on March 15. According
to the people of Mustafabad, the police at first refused to accept
complaints. After public pressure due to allegations that the Delhi Police
was ignoring the complaints of Muslim riot survivors, a police help desk
was set up, on March 7,at the Mustafabad Idgah Relief Camp and
complaints were recorded as diary entries.