NEW DELHI, Nov. 28 -- Instead of providing timely relief and help them rehabilitate, the state and police have been persecuting the victims, mainly Muslims, of the February 2020 communal violence in North East Delhi, a report by a Citizens' Committee comprising eminent jurists and a former Home Secretary of the Union government has found.

The Committee was chaired by Madan B. Lokur, former Judge of the Supreme Court, and comprised Justices A.P. Shah, R.S. Sodhi, Anjana Parikh and G. K. Pillai, former Union Home Secretary.

According to the report, polarisation between communities, particularly anti-Muslim hate, was deliberately fueled in the months preceding the violence. The Muslim community was grappling with deep fears of loss of citi...