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A Delhi court has acquitted 12 accused in a 2020 North-East Delhi riots case involving charges including murder, rioting and robbery. The court held that criminal liability cannot be imposed on a person merely because they were part of an unlawful assembly.
The court said the prosecution must provide evidence of the specific acts committed by each accused that contributed to the alleged offence. The case was heard by Additional Sessions Judge Parveen Singh.
12 accused acquitted in riots case
The accused were Lokesh Solanki, Pankaj Sharma, Ankit Chaudhary, Prince, Jatin Sharma, Himanshu Thakur, Vivek Panchal, Rishabh Chaudhary, Sumit Chaudhary, Tinku Arora, Sandeep and Sahil.
In its order dated August 25, the court said that simply being a member of an unlawful assembly was not enough to establish individual criminal liability. It noted that the prosecution had to prove the specific role played by each accused in the alleged offences.
The court said guilt could not be established solely on the allegation that the accused were part of a mob.
Mursaleen’s body found in drain
The 12 accused were charged in connection with the murder of Mursaleen, whose body was found in a drain near Johripur T-point on February 28, 2020.
The prosecution’s main witness, Divesh Rajput, was presented as an eyewitness to the murder and was said to have identified several of the accused. However, he turned hostile during the trial.
The court noted that despite lengthy cross-examination, his testimony did not establish the accused’s involvement in the unlawful assembly or the murder.
Another witness, Nisar Ahmed, also did not attribute any specific act to any of the accused in connection with the alleged mob violence.
Court questions identification of mob
The court observed that merely stating that the mob seen at the Johripur culvert was the same group responsible for vandalising, looting and setting fire to a house was not enough to establish that the accused remained part of that mob.
The court also rejected reliance on a police witness who could not identify the individuals in the mob. It said that merely hearing the names of the accused being called out could not be treated as conclusive identification.
Himanshu convicted over Mursaleen’s phone
However, the court convicted Himanshu Thakur under Section 411 of the IPC for dishonestly receiving or retaining stolen property.
The court found that Mursaleen’s mobile phone had been recovered from Himanshu and that he was using a SIM card in the handset.
