While framing charges against 10 men in 2020 Delhi riots case, a Delhi court on Thursday observed that their objective was to create fear amongst the Hindu community, threaten them to leave the country and to loot their properties as well. The Delhi riots broke out in the national capital during President Donald Trump's India visit and it led to loss of more than 50 lives. These riots tooks in the backdrop of anti-CAA protests that were going on in Shaheen Bagh and other places of East Delhi . More than 750 cases were registered in connection with these riots.
Key points
1. The court has framed charges against 10 men, Mohd. Shahnawaz, Mohd. Shoaib, Shahrukh, Rashid, Azad, Ashraf Ali, Parvez, Mohd. Faisal, Rashid alias Monu and Mohd. Tahir under IPC sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with a deadly weapon), 436 (mischief by fire), 452 (house-trespass with preparation to assault), 454 (lurking house-trespass), 392 (robbery), 427 (mischief) read with Section 149 (unlawful assembly).
2. Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhatt, after finding credibility in the statements of the witnesses, in his order passed on December 13, stated, “From the utterances of the rioters comprising the unlawful assembly, as mentioned by these witnesses in their statements, it is limpid that the object of the assembly was to create fear and panic in the minds of the people belonging to the Hindu community, threaten them to leave the country and to loot as well as burn their properties.”
3. Court held that charges were framed against these 10 men, as different accused were identified by different witnesses. "All the six prosecution witnesses, who have identified the accused, have given identical version of the riotous incident involved in this case. All of them corroborate each other's version in entirety", the court said.
4. The FIR was registered on the complaint of Jagdish Prasad who stated that the rioters had burnt the auto spare parts shop run by his son. The court said “there is no escape from the conclusion at this stage that the accused were members of unlawful assembly which resorted to vandalization, rioting etc. and in the process robbed & set ablaze the workshop belonging to the complainant’s son”.
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