Indian police 'complicit' in anti-Muslim violence by Hindu mobs: Amnesty

Amnesty International says Indian police committed “grave human rights violations” during the deadly communal violence in the capital New Delhi that claimed dozens of innocent lives earlier in the year.

The London-based rights organization said in a statement on Friday that Indian police were "complicit and an active participant" in the violence that broke out in the country’s capital in February and left 53 people, mostly Muslims, dead and hundreds of others injured.

"The Delhi police personnel were complicit and an active participant in the violence that took place in Delhi in February 2020, yet in the last six months not a single investigation has been opened into the human rights violations committed by the Delhi police," the rights group said in the statement.

Amnesty International said it had spoken with witnesses, retired police officers and analyzed several user-generated videos for the field investigation, which revealed a “disturbing pattern of grave human rights violations” committed by Indian police during the unrest.

"These violations include police officers indulging in violence with the rioters, torturing in custody, using excessive force on protesters, dismantling sites of peaceful protests and being mute bystanders as rioters wreaked havoc," Amnesty said.

Mob sets mosque on fire in Indian capital

A mosque is set on fire in the Indian capital, New Delhi, during clashes over a citizenship law that is deemed biased against Muslims.

Underlining that no investigation has so far launched into the deadly violence perpetrated by the Indian police, Amnesty executive director Avinash Kumar warned, "This ongoing state-sponsored impunity sends the message that the law enforcement officials can commit grave human rights violations and evade accountability.”

The deadly violence erupted in February after weeks-long peaceful sit-in protests by Muslims against a controversial new citizenship law were targeted by Hindu nationalist mobs in northeast Delhi.

India police arrest 100s after deadly anti-Muslim violence by Hindu mobs

Indian authorities report the arrest of hundreds after worst anti-Muslim riots by Hindu nationalist mobs.

The anti-Muslim violence, the worst communal violence in decades in New Delhi, also left more than 500 people injured as groups chanting Hindu nationalist slogans torched mosques and dozens of Muslim houses.

The unrest began amid widespread protests across India over a citizenship law that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government introduced last December offering a path to Indian citizenship for six religious groups from neighboring countries, specifically excluding Muslims.

Modi’s government is accused of encouraging religious intolerance and seeking to transform India into a Hindu state, with critics saying the new law is a grave threat to the country’s constitution.

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