In two cases related to the 2020 Delhi communal violence, a sessions judge has pulled up the police for “befooling the court” and maintaining “double standards”, Bar and Bench reported on Monday.

The two orders were passed by Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala, who in a separate 2020 riots case last week had acquitted a Muslim man observing that the police had made “artificial statements” against him.

Clashes had broken out between supporters of the Citizenship Amendment Act and those opposing it in February 2020 in North East Delhi, killing at least 53 persons and injuring hundreds. Most of those killed in the violence were Muslims.

‘Befooling the court’

The court made this comment in a case of arson of a house belonging to a person called Saheen Saifi. The special public prosecutor in the matter had said that a video required to establish the case was yet to be received from the forensic department. However, it later emerged that no such video existed.

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The judge said it was unfortunate that the public prosecutor has been “befooling the court”.

“The evidence of this case was stopped on account of absence of this relied upon video, and it is also apparent that the mirror copy of that video for this case, is yet to be prepared and obtained,” the court observed, according to Bar and Bench.

‘Double standard’

In a separate case, the judge criticised the police for preparing a site plan for only three cases even as six incidents had been clubbed together due to their proximity of place and time.

The court said there was no justification for the investigating officer to adopt “double standards”. It directed the deputy commissioner of police to make an assessment of the matter and submit a report, Bar and Bench reported.