George Floyd, a
Black man whose murder in the hands of the police in the United States
triggered a worldwide conversation on police brutality, featured in a Delhi
High Court order passed on Monday. “Let no one have to repeat the tragic last
words like George Perry Floyd, Jr – ‘I can’t breathe’, the court said while
ordering an inquiry into allegations of two people being beaten up in police
custody.

On May 25, 2020, 46-year-old
George Floyd was walking out of a convenience store when the storeowner called
the cops on him alleging that Floyd had paid with a counterfeit $20 bill. As
the police arrived and sought to arrest him, they pinned him to the ground. One
of the officers had his knee on Floyd’s neck and kept putting pressure as Floyd
pleaded saying he can’t breathe. Within minutes, George Floyd died.  

George Floyd’s
death further mobilised the Black Lives Matter movement, a socio-political
movement protesting police brutality and racially-motivated policing. The case
brought international attention to issues of police brutality in the US as well
as other parts of the world.

At the Delhi High
Court, it was Justice Najmi Haziri who made mention of George Floyd’s death
while disposing of a petition seeking an inquiry against officers of Turkman
Gate police post, Chandni Mahal police station.

Two men, Mohammed
Areeb Umar and Umair Siddiqui, approached the Delhi High Court and filed a
petition through advocate M Sufian Siddiqui alleging that they were beaten up
by personnel of the Delhi police on January 25 and that their complaint against
police excesses led to no action.

In the high court
order released Monday, Justice Waziri rejected the submission by the police
that there was an “immediately preceding occurrence” which led to the “strict
action”. Police said the action was taken only to break up a melee between
private parties outside the police station.

The court noted
that an inquiry had been conducted by Inspector (Vigilance) but was unhappy
with the procedure followed as the petitioners told the court that they were neither
called or heard in the inquiry. The Delhi High Court ordered DCP (Vigilance) to
conduct a fresh inquiry and hear the two men within four weeks.