PILs seek SC help on Jahangirpuri, MP demolitions

Two public interest litigations filed on Monday sought the SC's attention to the riots in Delhi's Jahangirpuri. One sought an independent probe into the violent incidents, and the second PIL demanded a probe by Delhi Police and NIA.

Advocate Amritpal Singh Khalsa in an email petition to CJI NV Ramana alleged that the Delhi Police probe into the incident has been "partial, communal and intended to protect perpetrators of the crime". It sought a probe by a SC judge to get at the truth. At least 13 Muslims had been arrested so far in connection with stone pelting when a Hanuman Jayanti procession entered a Muslim-dominated area, the PIL said. Another PIL sought a probe by Delhi Police and NIA into the alleged involvement of Islamic extremist outfits in the violence.

A third petition by the Jamiat Ulama I Hind drew the court's attention to the demolition of houses of Muslims in Madhya Pradesh over alleged involvement in violence during Ram Navami. The Constitution says that no one can be deprived of his life, liberty or property without following the procedure established by law. That was thrown into the wind in the recent events in BJP-ruled MP. It was earlier done in BJP-ruled UP too, the PIL said.


The petition contended that this was equivalent to the state government acting as the judge, jury and the executioner. Technically, the courts are expected to decide criminality before any property can be attached. In UP and MP, the state governments have been peremptorily razing buildings as part of punitive action against suspected rioters without following procedure under law.