2020 Delhi riots case: Delhi Court acquits 12 due to lack of evidence
New Delhi: A Delhi court acquitted 12 accused persons of murder and
criminal conspiracy
charges in a case related to the 2020
. The court of additional sessions judge Pulastya Pramachala, on April 30, stated that the fragments and pieces of circumstantial evidence were insufficient to establish the identity of the accused persons as part of the riotous mob.
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According to prosecution, the accused were part of the mob that murdered
Hashim Ali
on Feb 26, 2020, in the jurisdiction of the Gokalpuri police station. The court noted that the prosecution relied on circumstantial evidence as the eyewitnesses did not support its case for identifying the accused.
"I find that in the name of circumstantial evidence, there are some fragments and pieces of evidence, which fall much short to point out towards any of the accused persons as members of the culprit mob," the judge said.
The judge then named Lokesh Kumar Solanki, Pankaj Sharma, Ankit Chaudhary, Prince, Jatin Sharma, Himanshu Thakur, Vivek Panchal, Rishabh Chaudhary, Sumit Chaudhary, Tinku Arora, Sandeep, and Sahil.
The ASJ court, noting that the prosecution relied on circumstantial evidence as the eyewitnesses did not support its case for identifying the accused, observed, "Unless the identity of members of the culprit mob is established, vicarious liability cannot be fastened upon anyone.
No presumption can be raised that some persons identified as part of some mob at some place at some other time period would also have been part of the mob, which was involved in the incident of murder."
The court also rejected the prosecution's argument that some of the accused, who were part of a WhatsApp group 'Kattar Hindu Ekta', confessed to the murder during chats. "Such posts/messages may be put in the group solely with the intention of becoming a hero in the estimation of other members of the group, and it could be a boast also, without truth," said the court, adding that the posts could not be used as substantive evidence to prove murder.
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