The KarKardooma District Court in a matter pertaining to the Delhi riots (North East) has acquitted four men while stating that their identification was intensely doubtful as that of rioters who committed robbery and arson in the complainant’s house.
The single-judge bench of Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat has acquitted four accused being Sandeep, Tinku, Dinesh and Sahil, charged with provisions under section 147, 148, 143, 380, 436 read with sec. 149 of Indian Penal Code for unlawful assembly on February 26, 2020, with the objective of committing robbery and arson in the houses, shops and other properties belonging to the persons from other community by use of force or violence.
On February 29, 2020 the FIR was registered based on a written complaint from Afzal Saifi stating the incident of loot at his pace and later setting it on fire by the accused persons on February 26, 2020.
In the meantime one Shoiab lodged another complaint against the rioters in relation to the theft committed in his shop. Both the FIRs are banded together.
The accused persons involved in the riots were identified by two witnesses according to the case of prosecution.
The bench noted that,
“It is established from the testimony of these two witnesses that the house belonging to PW1 had been robbed and burnt between 26.02.2020 and 29.02.2020 and in the night intervening between 25.02.2020 and 26.02.2020 the shop of PW2 had been robbed.”
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Around 6 to 7 rioters were identified by one of the witnesses in the CCTV footage, where these four accused persons were identified by the witness among other rioters, the witness also stated that the faces of the accused persons were not covered during the incident.
During the cross examination, the witness admitted to have not made any calls to the police stating regarding the riots and that he did not get any DD entry (departure and arrival entry) on the record. The bench while acquitting the four men noted that, “The prosecution has failed to prove charges against the accused beyond any reasonable doubt. Resultantly, all the accused are liable to be acquitted and are hereby acquitted as such.”