Delhi’s Karkardooma Court has discharged 11 men accused of rioting, and burning shops and vehicles in the Dayalpur area of northeast Delhi during riots in February 2020.
The accused, also charged with criminal conspiracy, were discharged due to lack of evidence.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Pulastya Pramachala discharged the 11 accused persons namely Ajmat Ali, Shadab Alam, Naved, Mohd Shahid, Mohd Sakir, Nadeem, Mohd Sohail alias Soel, Sultan Ahmed, Wazid, Suleman and Mohd Faeem.
These accused were charge-sheeted in a case of rioting and criminal conspiracy by Delhi Police in relation to an FIR lodged at police station Dayalpur.
The court said that there is no reference to any specific evidence to show the existence of a criminal conspiracy among the accused persons. Based on the evidence placed on the record, the element of prior agreement among the accused persons and others cannot be inferred, it said.
“Therefore, I do not find a case being made out for the existence of a criminal conspiracy from the record,” ASJ Pramachala held in the order passed on Monday.
The court further said that based on evidence on record, it cannot be said that a grave suspicion is created against the accused persons to show their involvement in any of the incidents being prosecuted in this case.
“In fact, there is no specific evidence in respect of finding the culprit behind the incident related to other complaints, which were clubbed for investigation in this case and which are being prosecuted in the same chargesheet,” the court said.
The court pointed out that the video relied upon by the prosecution to charge-sheet Suleman and Mohd Faeem does not connect them with the alleged incidents.
“Since the police had registered separate cases for riotous incidents, a general piece of evidence to show presence in the mob at some point of time and at some different place cannot be sufficient evidence to prosecute and charge an accused for a particular incident,” ASJ Pramachala held.
As per the charge sheet, on the night of February 23, 2020, a PCR call was received in Police Station (PS) Dayalpur, regarding an incident taken place at Punjab Chicken, Chandu Nagar, Dayalpur, near Sherpur Chowk. Through this call, it was informed that “KUCH LOG DUKAAN PAR AAYE OR JHAGDA KAR RHE HAI”.
On reaching the spot, Police found that a mob of two different communities were raising slogans against and in favour of the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA).
The situation was telephonically informed to SHO, who came there along with force. He declared the mob illegal and announced through loudhailer to take back steps, but the mob did not pay any heed.
In the meantime, both mobs started stone pelting against each other. Some vehicles parked there were set on fire, windowpanes of some vehicles were broken, and one ‘Punjab Chicken’ in Chandu Nagar was also set on fire, the police said.
After investigation, Delhi police on April 27, 2020, filed a charge sheet against 10 accused persons for offences punishable under sections 147/148/149/427/435/436/120-B IPC and 3 PDPP Act.
On September 16, 2020, the first supplementary chargesheet against the accused, namely Mohd Faeem, along with the FSL report and other documents, was filed. On December 18, 2020, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) took cognizance of offences 147/148/149/427/435/436/120-B IPC and 3/4 PDPP Act.
On December 14, 2023, a third supplementary chargesheet was filed before the session court, taking a fresh stand to prosecute this case in respect of nine (9) complaints made by complainants Ashok Kumar, Satish Kumar, Rahul Kumar, Vijay Pal, Smt. Vandana, Mohd Nasim, Nawab Singh, Subhash Chand, and Mumtaz.
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
