‘Author In Frenzy To Prove Bias & Discrimination’: Delhi Police Refutes The Wire Report Alleging Different Treatment Of Riot Accused

The Delhi Police have refuted The Wire report which alleged bias in the working of the Police and the judiciary in the capital.

The Wire, on 13 May, had published a report titled “Delhi Communal Violence: Jail for Pregnant Safoora, Bail for ‘Gun Supplier’ Sirohi”. In the report the author had questioned, “How can a person who was found in possession of illegal arms during a riot be granted bail in a riots case when others from whom nothing was recovered are still behind bars (referring to Safoora Zargar)?”

In response to the aforementioned report, the Delhi police has released a rejoinder stating that the reporter had mixed up two completely different cases to claim that a Hindu man and a Muslim woman had been booked in the same case and yet had been treated differently.

The Police clarified that in reality both the cases were completely different and the reporter drew conclusion suiting her “pre-conceived narrative”.

The rejoinder further added that the author in a “frenzy to buttress a hypothesis of bias and discrimination”, mixed up two completely different FIRs bearing the same number, i.e. 59.

These cases were filed on two different dates, one on the 6th of March 2020 filed by the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police and the other on the 26th of February 2020 by the Special Cell.

The former, involving Safoora Zargar, was related to the Delhi Riots case which is still under investigation under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, Arms Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. While the latter, involving the accused termed as ‘Hindu man’ in the report, was filed in connection with the Arms Act, the investigation in which has been completed and charge-sheet has been filed.

The Delhi police also pointed out that the latter case, also involving a Muslim co-accused, has nothing to do with Delhi riots and all the mentioned details are available in the court order of the case.

The statement said that The Wire journalist “cherry-picked” portion to lend an air of credibility to the “piece of fiction”.

Since the initial publication of the report, the following clarification has been added: “Though both Safoora Zargar and Manish Sirohi are being proceeded against under FIR 59/2020, which is being handled by the Delhi Police Special Cell, there are in fact two FIRs of the same number which the Special Cell is handling. The first is dated February 27, 2020, and relates only to Manish Sirohi, and the second is dated March 6, which relates to Safoora and some others. In an earlier version of this story, both FIRs bearing the same number were erroneously treated as one.“