A court in Delhi has acquitted two accused in a 2020 northeast Delhi riots case, saying the possibility of the only eyewitness being a “fictitious person” cannot be ruled out.
The court also said the FIR was registered and a “semblance of investigation” carried out by arresting the accused and arranging some witnesses with “utter disregard” as to how such evidence shall stand in the court, and with “total apathy to the agony of the victims".
The court was hearing a case against Ajay and Gaurav Panchal, who were accused of being members of a riotous unlawful assembly, armed with deadly weapons, who, taking advantage of the widespread protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act, indulged in vandalism, violence, criminal trespass and destruction of property.
According to the prosecution, the two accused were part of the mob that vandalised and committed theft in a clothing shop in Meet Nagar in northeast Delhi on February 25, 2020.
“I am of the considered opinion that the prosecution has failed to establish its case beyond reasonable doubt… Accordingly, accused persons are hereby acquitted…,” metropolitan magistrate Abhinav Pandey said in an order passed on December 16.
The court said the first prosecution witness in the case was Nisar Ahmed, who could only provide evidence against unknown persons.
The only eyewitness in the case was Mohammed Aslam, who sold snacks in front of a liquor store under the Meet Nagar flyover, the court noted.
Aslam was summoned by the court, but the prosecution submitted a report stating that despite sincere efforts he could not be found, the magistrate noted.
“In the present case, the complainant is admittedly not an eye-witness to the alleged commission of offences, and the accused persons had allegedly been arrested in the police station itself when they were under arrest in some other case pertaining to the jurisdiction of the same police station,” the court said.
It said despite citing Aslam as the sole eyewitness, the police did not obtain his address, identity proof or contact number.
In fact, the police did not obtain any bond, according to the law, from Aslam for his appearance, the court said.
“In these circumstances, even the actual existence of any such person called Mohammed Aslam, who witnessed the commission of the alleged offences, comes under a shadow of a doubt, and the possibility of him being a fictitious person cannot be denied,” the court said.
“It seems that the FIR has been registered and a semblance of investigation has been carried out, just for the sake of it by first making the arrest and thereafter arranging the witness by some means or the other, with utter disregard to the consideration as to how such evidence shall stand in the court, and with total apathy to the agony of the victims,” the court added.
The prosecution's case, the court observed, has “fallen flat on its face and had no legs to stand upon".
It also said the examination of the remaining witnesses, who were merely formal witnesses, would not alter the court's conclusion, nor would the prosecution be in a position to establish the guilt of the accused persons beyond a reasonable doubt.
“The prosecution has completely and miserably failed to prove the guilt of the accused persons beyond a reasonable doubt,” the court added.
The Jyoti Nagar police station had registered an FIR against the accused persons for various offences under the Indian Penal Code, including rioting, mischief causing damage to the amount of 50 rupees or more and house-trespass or house-breaking by night.
