New Delhi, Aug 7: The CBI has registered an FIR to probe the death of a 23-year-old man who was seen in a viral video being purportedly assaulted and forced to sing the national anthem during the communal riots here in 2020.
The agency has taken over the investigation of the case from the Delhi Police on the directives of the city high court issued on July 23.
In a video clip that had gone viral on social media, Faizan, along with four other Muslim men, was seen being beaten up by policemen and forced to sing the national anthem and "Vande Mataram," the national song
Faizan's mother Kismatun, in her plea filed in 2020, alleged that police assaulted and illegally detained her son, and denied him critical healthcare due to which he succumbed to injuries on February 26 that year after being released.
Police, in a status report filed in the court in a sealed cover in 2022, had said the process of identifying the guilty personnel was still on.
In March, they had told the court that they were awaiting the forensic analysis of certain video footage from the National Forensic Sciences University in Gujarat.
In his order, Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani noted that actions of Delhi Police were "too little, too late".
"It is extremely important to note that this case presents allegations of gross violation of human rights, inasmuch as the unlawful actions of the policemen, who are yet to be identified, were motivated and driven by religious bigotry and therefore would amount to a 'hate-crime'", he had noted.
Justice Bhambhani said mob-vigilantism and mob violence do not cease to be so merely because these are perpetrated, not by ordinary citizens, but by policemen.
"If anything, the clement of abomination gets aggravated if hate-crime is committed by persons in uniform," he has said.
He said existence of the two sets of video footage showing Faizan alone being encircled and beaten mercilessly by policemen, and the second, which shows several young men, including Faizan, lying in an injured state on a road and being brutally assaulted by policemen, is not disputed.
"Even if it is assumed that Faizan and/or the other young men had sustained some injuries earlier-on during rioting, several policemen present at the spot are clearly seen surrounding, dragging, kicking and striking blows on Faizan and the other young men with batons/lathis; abusing them; and ordering them to sing the National Anthem while they are lying seriously injured and helpless on the roadside," he observed in his order.
The Delhi High Court said perpetrators of the alleged crime are at large even after four years of the incident.
Justice Bhambhani noted that probe so far is not suggestive that it is being conducted with "required promptitude".
"I am allowing the petition. I am transferring the case to CBI," he said.
Communal clashes had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24, 2020, after violence between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled out of control, leaving at least 53 people dead and around 700 injured.
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New Delhi: School enrolment in India has declined for the third year in a row, according to data released by the Union Ministry of Education, highlighting a concerning trend in the country's school education system.
The latest figures from the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+), as cited by Scroll on Friday, reveal that total school enrolment stood at 24.6 crore in 2024–25, down from 24.8 crore in 2023–24 and 25.1 crore in 2022–23. This marks a drop of 11 lakh students in the most recent academic year.
The data indicates that the decline is primarily concentrated in government and government-aided schools, while private schools continue to see an increase in enrolment. Between 2022–23 and 2024–25, enrolment in government and aided schools dropped significantly from 13.6 crore to 12.1 crore. In contrast, private school enrolment rose from 8.4 crore to 9.5 crore during the same period.
As a result, private institutions now account for 39% of total enrolment, the highest share since 2018–19. The shift in preference is also reflected in the number of institutions: government schools fell slightly from 10.18 lakh in 2023–24 to 10.13 lakh in 2024–25, while the number of private schools grew from 3.31 lakh to 3.79 lakh.
The sharpest decline in enrolment was observed among children aged 3 to 11 years where enrolment dropped by 25 lakh in 2024-25 compared to the previous year. However, modest increases were reported at the pre-primary, upper primary, secondary, and higher secondary levels.
This trend aligns with findings from the 2024 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), released earlier in January, which also highlighted a post-pandemic decline in government school enrolments.