A special Delhi court has sentenced 25-year old Dinesh Yadav to 5 years in prison for his involvement in the 2020 Delhi Riots. Yadav is the first person to get convicted in the northeast Delhi riots of February 2020. The decision came on Thursday 20th January 2022.
Earlier last month, Yadav was convicted of rioting in Delhi and setting a 73-year old woman’s house on fire. The court has also directed Yadav to pay a fine of Rs. 12000. Advocate Shikha Garg has represented him during the trial.
Delhi court sentences five years jail term to Dinesh Yadav, the first person convicted in connection with February 2020 North East Delhi riots.
— ANI (@ANI) January 20, 2022
Dinesh Yadav is 25-year old and was arrested on 8th June 2020. On 3rd August 2021, charges were framed against him to which he pleaded not guilty. Dinesh Yadav was convicted on 6th December 2021 by Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat.
In February 2020, communal riots had emerged in the national capital following the clashes between the supporters and protesters of the citizenship amendment act. Large Muslim mobs had attacked the houses and shops of Hindus, pelted stones, acid bottles and Molotov cocktails stored on rooftops in a planned and organised manner. 53 citizens had died in the riots while 700 others were injured.
The prosecution had argued that Yadav was an active member of the riotous mob and that he participated in vandalizing and putting on fire a house of a 73-year old woman named Manori on the night of 25th February 2020. Manori had alleged that a mob of approximately 150 to 200 rioters had attacked her house. According to Manori, her family was not present there at the time of the attack. The house including various articles and even a buffalo was looted and set on fire.
The Karkardooma Court in Delhi had held Dinesh Yadav guilty under various sections of IPC which include sections 143 (member of an unlawful assembly), 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting armed with a deadly weapon), 457 (house trespass), 392 (robbery), 436 (arson) of IPC read with section 149 (member of unlawful assembly guilty of a common offense) of IPC. This is the first sentence by the court in the February 2020 Delhi riots case.
