NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has acquitted three persons in a 2020 northeast Delhi riots case, after noting that the evidence was defective.
Additional Sessions Judge Parveen Singh granted relief to Sagar, Devender Gautam, and Anmol, who were accused of rioting, arson, dacoity, and damage to public property, stating that the certificate filed by the prosecution to prove the genuineness of the CCTV footage was defective.
“I find that there is no evidence by which the court can arrive at a finding of guilt against the accused persons. The accused are accordingly found entitled to the benefit of the doubt. All the accused are acquitted of all the charges framed against them,” the judge said.
The court ruled that the prosecution failed to prove the accused’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
The case was booked under the provisions of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property (PDPP) Act enacted for being part of a riotous mob during the Delhi riots.
The judge noted that a significant portion of the prosecution’s case rested on CCTV footage allegedly collected from the Public Works Department (PWD), and that the footage was stored on a hard disc and later sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), which reported no signs of tampering.
The judge noted that the evidence certificate filed by the prosecution was also defective and said that allowing it to be filed again at this stage of the trial would violate Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act.
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