A Delhi court has fined the city police Rs 25,000 and held that its delay in filing an application about a case pertaining to the February 2020 violence caused undue harassment to the accused persons, Live Law reported on Monday.

The court passed the order on October 12 after a special public prosecutor, appearing for the police, asked for more time to investigate a case, and sought permission to look into the complaint of a man named Faizan Khan separately.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Arun Kumar Garg allowed the police to investigate the case separately, but imposed a penalty of Rs 25,000. It directed that the amount should be paid to all seven accused persons in the case equally.

Garg also observed that repeated directions to the police in cases related to the violence “have fallen on deaf ears”. He told the Delhi Police Commissioner to file a report in seven days about the steps he has taken to ensure that the cases pertaining to the violence are investigated properly.

The court will hear the matter again on November 20.

Clashes had broken out between supporters of the Citizenship Amendment Act and those opposing it between February 23 and February 26, 2020, in North East Delhi. At least 53 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in the violence.

Courts in Delhi have pulled up the police several times for the flaws in their investigation of cases related to the riots.

In July, a sessions court had imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on the police after criticising its “callous and farcical” investigation in a case related to the violence. This was after the police had not registered a first information report on a complaint by one Mohammad Nasir despite a previous court order.

On September 28, Garg had asked the Delhi Police commissioner to conduct an inquiry and deduct Rs 5,000 from the salary of an officer who failed to appear before him and sought an adjournment in a case.