New Delhi: A Delhi court on Thursday acquitted five men accused of being part of a riotous mob that murdered a person during the 2020 Delhi riots.
The court of additional sessions judge Pulastya Pramachala in an April 3 order said: “I find that there is no evidence on the record to connect any of the accused persons with the incident probed in this case.”
The court was hearing the case registered at Karawal Nagar police station against the accused persons. The court noted that the case was registered for the alleged murder of Salman by a riotous mob. However, as the investigating officer (IO) could not find the culprit, the five persons were charged with the offence based on their purported presence in the mob. The court observed that none of the prosecution witnesses deposed on Salman’s murder.
The court said that the conclusions of the investigating officer in the chargesheet showed that the actual rioters or persons involved in the alleged murder could not be traced. If Delhi police were unable to find the culprit, it should have filed an “untraced report,” the judge said.
“Suffice to say that prosecution of all the accused persons in this case, for culpable homicide of Salman, was not based on correct appreciation of law. There was no evidence against any of the accused persons to connect them in any manner, either in individual capacity or as members of a group of rioters, with the incident of gunfire at Salman,” the judge added.
He also rejected the evidence of video footage, observing that it had failed to show the involvement of the accused. “Their (five accused) appearance in the video of a riot or mob at any other place cannot be helpful to prove charges in this case,” the judge said.
He said that although allegations of criminal conspiracy leading to the murder of Salman were levelled against the accused persons, the record was silent on any evidence supporting the allegations.
“It is important for the prosecution to show that the alleged act was done by members of that mob in pursuance to the common objective… and that the accused were members of the mob at the relevant time,” the court said.
It, however, said that according to the prosecution, two mobs belonging to two Muslim communities confronted each other at Shiv Vihar Tiraha on Feb 24, 2020, and their common objective was to inflict damage on the rival mob.
“Therefore, the stand taken by IO in the chargesheet to prosecute members of both rival mobs for culpable homicide of Salman cannot be accepted to be in consonance with the law,” the court said.