NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has acquitted 11 men accused of arson, vandalism and theft during the February 2020 Northeast Delhi riots, citing serious doubts over the credibility of the police witnesses who identified them.
In an order dated May 14, Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala observed that the prosecution had failed to establish the identity of the accused beyond reasonable doubt. The court raised questions about the reliability of two police witnesses, both assistant sub-inspectors posted at the same police station during the riots, who identified the accused from photographs nearly 10 months after the incident.
The prosecution had alleged that the accused were part of a mob that looted and set fire to shops on the intervening night of February 24 and 25, 2020. However, the judge said that the identification of the accused was the central issue, and the delay in naming them cast serious doubt on the witnesses’ accounts.
“If prosecution witness (PW) 9, ASI Jahangir, and PW 10, ASI Vanvir, had actually seen and identified the accused persons among the rioters on February 24, 2020, then there was no good reason for them to keep silent for such a long period,” the court stated. It also noted that showing photos of the accused—who had already been arrested—to one of the witnesses seemed “unnatural” and suggested the witness was “artificially made” to appear as an eyewitness.
The court further observed that the investigating officer did not initially record the statements of these two officers, even though he knew they were deployed at the scene, which further weakened the prosecution’s case.
Another witness, Aslam, who claimed to identify the accused in court for the first time despite knowing them beforehand, was also considered “suspicious” by the court.
As the charges were not proven beyond a reasonable doubt, the court acquitted all 11 accused: Ankit Chaudhary, Sumit, Pappu, Vijay, Ashish Kumar, Sourabh Kaushik, Bhupender, Shakti Singh, Sachin Kumar, Rahul, and Yogesh.