Citizens' Accountability LedgerWho owned the mess? 25 years, every party, on the record

Case 40 · Rights and dissent

Delhi riots. The dead, and the selective dock

Feb 2020

Instigators free, dissenters jailed

2,364 days since Nobody has been held to account.

Human cost Est
~53 killed, most of them Muslim; hundreds injured, thousands displaced
Financial cost Est
Homes, shops and mosques gutted across north-east Delhi

What happened

Communal violence tore through north-east Delhi over several days in February 2020, killing around 53 people, the majority of them Muslim.

Claim against record

What the government said

Police deny bias and say the investigation followed the evidence of an organised conspiracy.

What the record shows

Instigators free, dissenters jailed

Rights groups documented police inaction and, in places, complicity, while the state built a sweeping conspiracy case that jailed students and activists under the UAPA for years without trial. Several figures who had made openly inflammatory speeches faced no such action. The prosecution's aim looked less like justice than a message.

Contested / alleged

The claims of police complicity and one-sided prosecution are contested, advanced by rights groups and the accused and denied by the police; several cases remain in court.

What accountability should have looked like

An independent inquiry into the policing, bail and fair trials for undertrials, and even-handed prosecution of incitement whoever spoke it.

Ministers and office-holders responsible

Naming who held the portfolio is a matter of public record. It is not by itself a finding of personal responsibility for any death or any rupee.

Sources

T1 primary record · T2 reporting · T3 partisan

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Cite or export this case

Citizens' Accountability Ledger, "Delhi riots. The dead, and the selective dock" (Feb 2020), case-17. https://whoisresponsible.xyz/case/case-17/

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