2020 Delhi Riots: Five Convicted For Attacking Cops During Bhajanpura Violence; Acquitted Of Arson Charges

A Delhi court has convicted five men for being part of an unlawful assembly that attacked police personnel during the February 2020 Delhi riots, but acquitted them of charges alleging that they had set a petrol pump and vehicles on fire.

Additional Sessions Judge Parveen Singh of the Karkardooma Courts found Arif Malik, Mohd Khalid, Abdul Sattar, Tanveer Ali and Hunain guilty of rioting, obstructing public servants and using criminal force against public servants. The court will hear arguments on their sentence on September 16.

The case relates to violence reported around the Bhajanpura petrol pump on February 24, 2020, when a mob had gathered amid protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC).

According to the prosecution, the situation escalated after a crowd of around 100-150 people crossed the road divider and began attacking police personnel. The mob allegedly indulged in stone-pelting and vandalism and also targeted the petrol pump and vehicles in the vicinity.

Court found that the evidence was sufficient to establish the unlawful nature of the gathering and the presence of all five accused in it.

It relied, among other material, on the testimony of five witnesses to conclude that Tanveer, Hunain, Arif Malik, Mohd Khalid and Abdul Sattar were members of the assembly. The prosecution had examined 26 witnesses during the trial.

The judge held that the conduct of the crowd showed that it had a common object of rioting, arson, criminal mischief and vandalism. The mob, the court observed, was also raising slogans against the CAA and NRC.

The prosecution case concerning the attack on police personnel was substantially accepted by the court. The accused were convicted under provisions of the Indian Penal Code dealing with rioting, assaulting or obstructing a public servant while suppressing a riot and using criminal force to deter a public servant.

The maximum punishment for the offences for which the five men have been convicted is three years.

However, court drew a distinction between the evidence relating to the assault on police and the allegations of arson.

On the allegation that the petrol pump had been set on fire, the judge found significant gaps in the prosecution evidence. The Delhi Fire Service reports placed before the court did not establish that the petrol pump had been set ablaze at the relevant time. Another fire report relied upon during the investigation had also not been formally proved in evidence.

Court consequently expressed “very serious doubts” about the prosecution's claim that the petrol pump was set on fire around 2 pm on February 24.

The judge observed that it was possible that witnesses, seeing the mob engaged in arson elsewhere, may have assumed that the petrol pump itself had been set ablaze by the same group.

The court also rejected the charge concerning the burning of vehicles. Although witnesses consistently spoke about vehicles being set on fire, the investigating officer had not identified the vehicles or examined their owners.

The lapse was significant enough for the court to hold that the charge of mischief by fire could not be sustained.

Thus, while the court found the prosecution case sufficient to establish that the five accused were part of the unlawful assembly and had participated in violence and resistance against public servants, it did not find the evidence adequate to convict them for the more serious allegations concerning arson, grievous injuries and property damage.

The verdict comes in a case arising from the northeast Delhi riots of February 2020, in which 53 people were killed and hundreds were injured.