Delhi violence: High Court directs authorities to expeditiously conduct DNA test on charred body

The Delhi High Court has directed the authorities to expeditiously conduct DNA testing of a man, who was allegedly shot and burnt in the northeast Delhi violence, to confirm his identity.

Justice Vibhu Bakhru, who conducted the hearing through video conferencing, also asked the authorities to communicate the result of DNA testing to the victim's family on or before April 18.

The court was hearing a petition by the daughter of 58-year-old Anwar Kassar, a resident of Shiv Vihar, saying that her father was shot and burnt during the violence that erupted on February 23 in northeast Delhi related to anti-CAA protests.

She said in the plea that she has identified the charred body of her father but as it was in a burnt condition, DNA matching has to be done to confirm its identity and the test has not been conducted yet.

She sought direction to the authorities to expeditiously conclude the DNA matching test and furnish the results in a time bound manner.

The court was informed by the counsel for Delhi government that priority was being accorded to the victims of the recent violence and the DNA matching of the body identified by the petitioner would be done by April 16 as it is already underway.

The plea claimed that the DNA samples were collected on February 29, and the police finally sent the samples for testing on March 16.

In February, clashes broke out in northeast Delhi between the groups supporting and opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.