North-East Delhi violence: Court acquits four accused of murder-rioting charges

A Delhi court hearing North East Delhi riots cases acquitted four out of five people of murder-rioting charges in three cases related to the 2020 violence in the region. These cases are from Dayalpur police station area of ​​North East Delhi. These cases were registered in 2020 in connection with the murder of three people during the riots in February 2020.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Pulastya Pramachala acquitted four of the five accused, Ashok Kumar, Ajay alias Monu, Shubham and Jitendra Kumar, of murder-rioting charges. A fifth man, Arif alias Mota, was not charged with the crime of murder. He has also been acquitted of other crimes related to the riots. These cases were registered in connection with the murder of Mahtab, Zakir and Ashfaq Hussain.

While acquitting the accused, the court said that there was no evidence that any of the accused were part of the rioters at the given place and time. The court said, therefore, all the accused in this case are acquitted of all the charges leveled against them. ASJ Pramchala said in the judgment, “My previous discussions, observations and findings show that the prosecution could not prove that any of the accused were involved in the murder of Mahtab. Accused Arif alias Mota has been charged with the murder of Mahtab. Wasn’t even imposed.” Dated 16 February 2024.

The court asked whether the accused persons were in the unlawful assembly which killed Mahtab? There is no evidence available on record in this regard. The only eyewitness for the prosecution turned hostile. The court said that the prosecution has brought forward some circumstantial evidence in the form of CDRs and the alleged disclosure statements given by some of the accused persons and recovery of scissors, a sword and the clothes worn by them.

The Court termed the CDR as weak evidence and said that it only shows the presence and usage of a particular mobile number at a particular location. The user of that mobile phone can be anyone. “Therefore, no firm conclusion can be reached about the presence of a particular person at a particular place on the basis of CDR of the mobile phone alone,” the court said.

He pointed out that as far as the recovered sword and scissors are concerned, it is not the case of the prosecution that the traces of blood of the deceased were found with these weapons to show that these were the weapons with which the deceased committed the attack. Was. Was killed. The Court also said that as far as the clothes allegedly worn by the accused at the time of the riots are concerned, they have no connection with the incident in question.

The court said, “Neither was there any positive result of forensic investigation proving that these clothes were stained with the blood of the deceased, nor was the presence of the accused persons among the rioters proved by any evidence.” The court further said, “As the prosecution had relied on the CCTV footage, the same was never played to show the appearance of the accused and whether such video was in any way connected to the incident.”

Rakshpal Singh, counsel for accused Ashok, Ajay alias Monu and Shubham, argued that neither the prosecution witness Shashikant identified any of the accused nor revealed the role of any of the accused. He further argued that the Investigating Officer (IO) testified that he had not gone to the spot to make any recovery, although he had made such plea in the charge sheet. He termed his charge sheet as false.

It was also argued that according to the prosecution the video was of February 27, 2020, although the incident took place on February 25, 2020. Special PP Madhukar Pandey said that the presence of the accused persons was established from the footage of CCTV camera installed near Chawla Grocery Store. Ashok Kumar, Arif and Ajay were included in the rioting mob of February 25, 2020.

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