Acquitting an accused in a case related to the north-east Delhi riots of February 2020, a Delhi court has observed that the police failed to investigate the incidents of rioting reported in the FIR and went about filing a chargesheet against the accused “in a casual manner”.
Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala acquitted the man, Rohit, while noting in his order that the FIR disclosed incidents of rioting and vandalism of three properties in the Gokulpuri area on February 25 but no probe was done to look into these incidents.
The court said, “Investigation was not done to check whether rioting was committed and continued at these particular properties for the given time period i.e. from 11.30 a.m. to 3 p.m.; or whether these incidents were committed by the same mob; or from which direction that mob came and what route was taken by that mob to commit rioting.”
Moreover, the court noted that Rohit was misidentified as part of the riotous mob on February 25 based on evidence and testimony related to incidents of rioting that took place a day earlier (February 24).
“Thus, in my opinion, the incidents reported and taken up for investigation in this case were not actually solved. The police chargesheeted accused Rohit in this case in a casual manner. It is a formality only to declare that prosecution has miserably failed to prove its case herein,” the ASJ said.
Three plaints clubbed
The case pertained to rioting in Gokulpuri and the police had clubbed three complaints from the same day into the same FIR. Of the three complainants, only one had identified members of the riotous mob on the given day. The court found that this complainant had identified four-five people but had not identified the accused, Rohit.
Apart from this, only one public witness had identified Rohit as being part of the mob on February 25 but the witness turned hostile in court and denied having identified him.
The court in its July 12 order said, “The disappointing part of the prosecution story is that allegedly PW5 (civilian), PW9 (police) and PW10 (police) had stated before the IO that they had seen Rohit in the mob which indulged in rioting on 24-02-2020. Still, the prosecution relied upon these witnesses to establish that accused Rohit was part of the mob, which vandalised the properties of three complainants in this case on 25-02-2020.”
The court also noted that the video presented to show Rohit as part of the mob on February 25 was also from a day earlier and thus of no consequence.
ASJ Pramachala also held that it was incumbent upon the prosecution to show consistently and clearly the location of the three properties where rioting took place on February 25.
The police had filed three separate site plans with their chargesheet and the court noted, “On perusal of these site plans, one can find that they are inconsistent with each other.”
Rohit’s lawyer Vimal Kumar Singh said he has been acquitted in one other riot-related case and that his trial is under way in four other cases related to the riots.
