New Delhi: The commission looking into the claims of the victims of the February 2020 northeast Delhi riots has sought all videos of the violence from police to identify the perpetrators and recover damages from them.While North East Delhi Riots Claim Commission has already fast-tracked the exercise to assess the loss of the victims who have applied for claims against death, injury and loss of property and sent its recommendation to Delhi High Court, officials said the next step would be to recover the damages from the people who had destroyed the properties. “We have asked Delhi Police to provide us with all the videos they have of the riots. The compensation being paid to the victims will be recovered from the perpetrators of crime,” said panel commissioner Justice (retired) Sunil Gaur. “It is going to be a long exercise and we would need the cooperation of all the authorities concerned. Considering the sensitive nature of the exercise, we will try to fast-track it,” he added. The panel was given a one-year extension in 2022. With its term ending on March 31, the commission is awaiting another extension to complete the exercise.According to officials, hundreds of videos recorded by individuals and government authorities, and CCTV camera footage are available with Delhi Police. While the commission, too, has accessed many of them, officials said they had to get updated information from police.The commission was set up by the high court to evaluate the damage to properties during the riots between the supporters of the citizenship law and its protesters in northeast Delhi. At least 53 people were killed and over 580 were injured in the violence while properties, both public and private, worth crores of rupees were damaged. About 758 cases were registered and 2,615 people have been arrested on various charges.Officials said the commission had received 2,790 applications for compensation, of which one batch of 1,024 recommendations has already been sent to the high court. Another set of 500 recommendations is likely to be sent in the next few days. While 300-odd claims are under process, officials added that they were still awaiting 966 survey reports from the loss assessors. “The recommendations sent to the high court include the claim application, the report of the surveyors in each of them and the recommendation of the claims commissioner in each case. After going through each recommendation, the high court will make its view and send it back to us to coordinate with the government to get the compensation amount paid to the victims,” said an official.Delhi government had announced an ex gratia to the victims and asked them to apply for compensation for their losses. In its first and only report on the review of the compensation paid to the riot victims, tabled in the assembly on March 11, 2022, the Committee on Welfare of Minorities said Delhi government had received 3,425 applications for compensation, of which 2,221 were approved and the rest rejected on varied grounds, largely due to duplication. The government paid a total compensation of over Rs 26 crore.Officials said the panel was told in December 2021 about the compensation disbursed by Delhi government through the area SDMs. “We matched the data with the reports of our loss assessors to ensure there is no duplicity of claims,” said an official.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/panel-asks-cops-for-ne-delhi-riot-videos-to-recover-damages-from-perpetrators/articleshow/98192600.cms
