New Delhi: While 23 people have been arrested by the Delhi police in connection with the violence in the Jahangirpuri area of the national capital, a petition has been moved before Chief Justice of India NV Ramana to take suo motu cognisance of the riots.
According to a report by the Bar and Bench, a lawyer Amritpal Singh Khalsa has filed the plea urging the top court to intervene in the matter and conduct an impartial investigation.
He has requested the top court to exercise its "epistolary jurisdiction" and constitute a committee headed by a sitting judge of the apex court, to conduct an impartial probe into the riots.
The lawyer has alleged that the "Delhi Police investigation so far, has been partial, communal and directly shielding perpetrators of the riots", according to the Bar and Bench report.
The petition stated this is the second time that riots have erupted in the capital city, and on both occasions, only "minority" community members are being blamed.
The letter petition relying on media reports alleged that a few armed members, who were part of the Hanuman Jayanti Shobha Yatra procession entered mosque and installed the saffron flag, and what followed was stone pelting by both the communities.
This comes two days after a clash broke out during a Hanuman Jayanti procession in the city's Jahangirpuri area in which nine policemen and a civilian was injured.
There was stone-pelting and arson during the clashes between two communities that left eight police personnel and a local injured. Some vehicles were also torched, they said.
The Delhi Police arrested 23 people over the violence, including a 21-year-old man, who allegedly fired a bullet that hit a sub-inspector and a 35-year-old man alleged to be the "main conspirator" behind the clash, according to ABP News sources.
The Delhi Police on Sunday held a meeting with members of Aman committees and asked them to appeal to the people to maintain peace in their areas, officials said.