NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has acquitted former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain in a case of allegedly defacing public property by putting up a board wishing people a Happy New Year in 2015. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Arun Kumar Garg granted the relief to the politician, saying there was no evidence produced by the prosecution to prove that the board/hoarding was either installed by the accused or that the same was installed at his instance or for his benefit.
‘“In fact, the IO (investigating officer) has failed to point out in the charge sheet as to how he had pinned down the name of the accused as the installer of the board, in as much as, he has neither recorded the statement of residents of the locality where the board in question was found affixed by the police nor has he recorded the statement of the printer,” the judge said in the order passed on Wednesday.
According to the prosecution, the case was registered after a Head Constable of the Karawal Nagar Police Station saw a board with Hussain and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s photo with a message hung on an electric pole.
In its order, the court noted that none of the witnesses examined by the prosecution in its evidence even deposed that the board in question was either hung on the pole by the accused or that the same was installed at his instance. Hussain is currently in judicial custody after being held on with numerous cases, including one filed by the special cell over a conspiracy to engineer the riots.
Witness version key for acquittal
In its order, the court noted that none of the witnesses examined by the prosecution in its evidence even deposed that the board in question was either hung on the pole by the accused or that the same was installed at his instance