A Delhi court has recently acquitted six individuals accused of rioting, arson, and looting during the 2020 northeast Delhi riots.
Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala delivered the verdict in the case against Sahil, Dinesh, Tinku, Sandeep, Vikas Kashyap, and Sonu.
The accused were allegedly involved in a riotous mob that trespassed and committed theft in a shop in Bhagirathi Vihar on the night of February 24-25, 2020. They were also accused of being part of an unlawful assembly that engaged in arson, trespassing, and theft in a nearby house at around 9 pm on February 24, 2020.
“I find that charges levelled against the accused persons, in this case, are not proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Hence, all the accused persons are acquitted of all the charges levelled against them in this case,” the court stated.
The judge took into consideration the testimonies of two prosecution witnesses, a constable, and an assistant sub-inspector, who claimed to have witnessed the incidents.
“If I compare the testimony of both these witnesses, I find a huge gap of timing of the incidents in their statements,” the court observed.
The judge emphasized that considering the circumstances, it is difficult to solely rely on the witnesses’ claims of having witnessed both incidents.
The court concluded that the evidence presented can be considered as circumstantial, and it cannot definitively establish that a mob was responsible for both incidents under investigation. It further remarked that the identification of the accused as part of the mob was insufficient evidence, as they were only shown as being present on the road at some point in time.
The court also highlighted that separate cases had been registered by the police based on specific incidents of riots, indicating the need for more substantial evidence to establish the accused’s involvement in those specific incidents. The judge further remarked that it was the prosecution’s responsibility to demonstrate that all the accused individuals were part of the mob that engaged in vandalism, arson, and looting at the two properties in question. The court further noted that one of the complainants mentioned being informed about the time of the incident by a neighbor, but the neighbor was not located or examined as a witness.
Based on these circumstances, the judge concluded that the prosecution had not established beyond reasonable doubt that the accused individuals were part of the mob responsible for the incidents in question.
The Gokalpuri police station had registered an FIR against the six accused under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including rioting, based on two complaints.
