NEW DELHI: The Delhi HC has quashed an FIR against former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain, linked to 2020 Delhi riots, citing the existence of a prior FIR covering the same incident.
Justice Subramonium Prasad ruled that the chargesheet filed in the quashed FIR would be treated as a supplementary chargesheet in the earlier case, allowing the trial to proceed without prejudice to the victims.
The court noted that the second FIR, registered on February 27, 2020, detailed allegations of rioting and arson on the first floor of a building, while the first FIR, dated February 25, 2020, pertained to similar offences on the ground floor of the same building.
“A perusal of the two FIRs shows that the rioters first broke open the shutters of Pradeep Parking and set fire to vehicles parked there, and then proceeded to the first floor, where they destroyed goods prepared for a marriage ceremony. Both incidents are part of the same episode,” the court stated.
Acknowledging that the victims in both FIRs were different, the court emphasised that quashing the second FIR outright could deny justice to the aggrieved parties.
It observed that nine eyewitnesses and 23 additional witnesses were common in both cases, ensuring that there was no prejudice if the chargesheet from the second FIR was integrated into the first case.
“The mistake of the prosecution in filing two FIRs for an incident within the same building cannot result in injustice to the victims. This court is inclined to quash FIR 116/2020, dated February 27, 2020, registered at Police Station Khajuri Khas, with a direction that its chargesheet be treated as a supplementary chargesheet in FIR 101/2020,” the court ordered.