Delhi court acquits 7 in 2020 communal riots case

Acquitting the seven of all charges, the court added, 'The evidence on the record also fails to establish the identity of the mob, which was actually behind the three incidents probed in this case.'

New Delhi: A sessions court here has acquitted seven people in a 2020 northeast Delhi communal riots case, holding there was no "sustainable and inspiring evidence" against them.

Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala was hearing a case against the seven who were accused of being a part of an unlawful assembly that torched two shops, an autorickshaw and a two-wheeler on the Main Brijpuri Road in Karawal Nagar on February 24, 2020.

"The evidence on the record fails to point out to any of the accused persons with the help of any sustainable and inspiring evidence to show them as part of the mob of rioters," the court said in an order passed on Wednesday.

Acquitting the seven of all charges, it added, "The evidence on the record also fails to establish the identity of the mob, which was actually behind the three incidents probed in this case."

The court underlined though none of the complainants identified any of the alleged rioters, four of the seven were arrested by an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) on a "tip-off".

It said, "Even without going through the case file or having a discussion with the previous Investigating Officer (IO), merely based on some general information given by a secret informer prosecution witness 10 (the ASI) arrested accused persons in the present case."

Noting other discrepancies in the evidence of police witnesses, the court said the "scenarios do not appear to be natural and it goes on to show that these accused persons were arrested based on some presumptions only," the court added.

It said a video was submitted in order to establish the identity of the accused who torched a shop, but the IO did not explain how the video was relevant to the incidents being probed.

"His (IOs) testimony does not inspire much confidence in respect of establishing the identity of accused persons as part of the same mob," the court said.

Noting the evidence before it, the court said there were two mobs comprising people from two different communities and there was no evidence to prove the identity of the particular mob which was involved in the incidents.

"The case of prosecution shows that it was a situation of a communal riot between the mob of Hindu Community and Muslim Community. The common object of both these mobs had to be against each other and could not be the same," it said.

A general presumption could not be raised regarding the involvement of one of the mobs, it added.

A case was registered at Dayalpur police station against Shakil, Habib Raza, Mohammad Yamin, Usman, Shahid, Furkan and Irshad, who were all acquitted.