Cong seeks judicial probe into Delhi riots, demands resignation of Amit Shah

Congress leader Mukul Wasnik said it seems that the Modi government has failed to follow 'Raj Dharma' and protect the lives of Delhi citizens as the police was found wanting in their duties.

He said the judicial inquiry should be monitored by a high court or Supreme Court judge that should ascertain what led to the violence and fix responsibility of officers found guilty of dereliction in duty.

A fact-finding committee of the Congress earlier in the day submitted a report on the Delhi violence to party chief Sonia Gandhi in which it flagged alleged failure of the central and Delhi governments in instilling confidence among the people.

Gandhi had formed the committee to look into the violence in northeast Delhi.

The committee included Mukul Wasnik, Tariq Anwar, Sushmita Dev, Shaktisinh Gohil and Kumari Selja.

"There should be an independent judicial inquiry under the supervision of a Supreme Court or High Court judge that could independently look into the reasons that led to the violence and ascertain who were behind it," Wasnik said.

"We feel that Amit Shah as the Union Home Minister did not take enough measures to stop the violence in Delhi. We demand that Amit Shah resign immediately. We also demand that FIRs and cases be registered immediately against those BJP leaders who made inflammatory speeches and legal action initiated against them," he said.

"It seems this government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has failed to follow 'Raj dharma' once again....Work needs to be done on a war footing and both central and Delhi governments should take steps in this regard," he said.

Wasnik also lashed out at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), asking whether it was important to take steps by him to instill confidence among people of Delhi and ensure their safety as the Delhi administration was with them.

He added that India's image has been tarnished in the world as the violence happened during the visit of US President Donald Trump to India.

The Congress leader said the probe should also fix responsibility of officers who did not take steps to stop spread of violence and were found wanting for dereliction of duty.

Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil alleged that the violence spread as both the BJP and the AAP played politics and demanded the the victims of violence be immediately given compensation.

"It was due to the vote-bank politics of the BJP that this violence spread in Delhi. Delhi people did not want violence," he said, adding that the pattern of violence is a trademark of the BJP across the country.

Sushmita Dev said their team had only visited the affected areas to ascertain the facts and not investigate.

"It was crystal clear that this was not some spontaneous violence between two classes. There was provocation and there is ample evidence out there. There is also ample evidence on what Delhi Police did in the aftermath of the violence as thousands of phone calls to (emergency number) 100 went without any response for hours," she alleged.

"Who is responsible for this? Amit Shah must step down immediately. If we value the lives of people of Delhi, then the only way we can do justice is for the Home Minister to step down," she said.

Training her guns on Kejriwal, she said, "it is a shame that the chief minister of Delhi should do nothing. Kejriwal simply washed his hands of despite the civil administration being under him. He sat only on Twitter and watched the violence spread across Delhi."

She said there is a plethora of evidence to believe that there cannot be a fair probe under the Delhi Police, which comes under the Union Home Ministry.

The committee report also pointed to the "inaction" on part of both the governments to address to the grievances of those who suffered during the Delhi riots, they said.

The report also highlighted the inflammatory speeches made by some BJP leaders in the presence of police officers that led to the clashes. They also pointed to the utter failure of Delhi Police in controlling the riots.

The team visited riot-affected areas in northeast Delhi and met with the victims and their families, both in hospitals as well as in their residences.

They also met the families of the Delhi Police head constable and an Intelligence Bureau officer who were killed in the clashes, sources said.

The Delhi government has maintained that 53 people were killed and over 200 injured in the communal violence that broke out in northeast areas of the city last month.

The areas worst affected in the violence included Jaffrabad, Maujpur, Chand Bagh, Khureji Khas and Bhajanpura.