A Delhi court has framed charges of murder, rioting and criminal conspiracy against four persons for killing a Hindu man during the Delhi riots in February last year, calling it a calculated attack. The four accused Anwar Hussain, Kasim, Shahrukh, and Khalid Ansari are accused of killing a man named Deepak near Ambedkar College on February 25, 2020.
Deepak was attacked by a mob on the service road of Gokul Road flyover in the afternoon on February 25, 2020, and he was found in an unconscious and injured state. He was taken to GTB Hospital, but doctors had declared him dead. The post mortem report said that the cause of death was “hemorrhagic shock due to antemortem injury to the brain and abdominal organ and blood vessel”.
Addl. Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat at the Karkardooma Courts framed the charges after going through the details of the case and hearing witnesses. However, the four have pleaded not guilty, which means now they will face a trial in the case.
The court said that it has been established that Deepak was murdered by armed unlawful assembly on 25.02.2020 at around 1.30 PM. “By the manner of their mobilization and intent as construed from their conduct, the said unlawful assembly can be said to have conducted itself for riots and other offences like murder of deceased Deepak, in prosecution of their common object. The conspiracy is also writ large by the calculated attack on the victim by the unlawful assembly,” the verdict framing the charges said.
The judge also mentioned there are witnesses in the case who have given similar statements implicating accused persons in the offence of riots and murder of Deepak. One witness Kirti Raj Tiwari said that that when they were working at EDMC Parking behind Ambedkar College, they saw that a crowd of 100200 people near Kardam Puri Ganda Naala in front of Dispensary was rioting. The Muslim crowd picked one boy while chanting Allah Hu Akbar and mercilessly beaten the boy with danda and pathar. When the crowd from the other community started to arrive at the place, the Muslim crowd left the boy and started destroying public property. Tiwari gave names of some of the people in the mob that he knew.
The judge said that the most important witness in the case is Sunil Kumar, who is an eyewitness to the entire incident. He has given the complete picture as to how the deceased Deepak was killed by the armed Muslim mob, consisting of accused persons. Sunil Kumar said that on 25 February 2020, Muslim unlawful assembly coming from Kardampuri Pulia and shouting Allah Ho Akbar, was trying to cross the Pulia Gokulpur. The mob caught hold of Deepak and he was mercilessly beaten by them.
Sunil Kumar said that that he was hiding behind a wall behind the Naala, and saw the entire murder through a gap in the wall. He also identified all four accused by name. Sunil added that he can identify the accused persons, and he could not save Deepak due to fear and the number of attackers.
“Thus, for the purpose of charge, the prosecution has been able to satisfy the Court that an unlawful assembly including accused persons in prosecution of their common object had committed riots and hit the deceased Deepak with deadly weapon causing his death. Since the unlawful assembly fully armed and in that pursuit, they had chased, apprehended and killed the deceased and from their conduct, it can be said that it was a case of criminal conspiracy,” the court said.
The court added that Anwar Hussain, Kasim, Shahrukh @ Rinku and Khalid Ansari were part of the unlawful assembly which committed violence in prosecution of the common object of rioting and murdered the deceased Deepak, and committed criminal conspiracy. Therefore, charges under Section 147 IPC, 148 IPC, 302 IPC, read with Section 149 IPC and under Section 302 IPC read with Section 120B IPC are made out.
