NEW DELHI: In a landmark judgment, six men accused of arson, rioting, and theft during the 2020 communal riots in northeast Delhi have been acquitted due to insufficient evidence. The verdict was delivered by Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala, who presided over the case.
The accused, identified as Hashim Ali, Abu Bakar, Mohammad Ajeej, Rashid Ali, Nazmuddin, and Mohammad Danish, were alleged to have looted, vandalized, and set fire to a house in Shiv Vihar on February 25, 2020. Additionally, a complaint about a clinic being torched was combined with this case.
Judge Pramachala noted that the prosecution had presented a digital video recorder (DVR) as evidence against the accused. “However, no witness is there to identify any of the accused persons in the videos,” the court stated.
The judge criticised the investigation for failing to use scientific methods to confirm the presence of the accused in the video footage. The Investigating Officer did not compare the video clips with specimen pictures of the accused, nor did they conduct a scientific examination to verify the identities of those in the footage.
“Thus, there is no evidence to establish that accused are appearing in those videos,” the court observed. The Call Details Record provided by the prosecution did not pinpoint the exact location of the accused during the incident.