Delhi riots: Court takes cognisance of charge sheet against 7 in murder case

A Delhi court has taken cognisance of a charge sheet filed against seven persons, arrested in a case related to murder of a man during the communal violence in north east Delhi in February.

A Delhi court has taken cognisance of a charge sheet filed against seven persons, arrested in a case related to murder of a man during the communal violence in north east Delhi in February. The court said it was prima facie revealed that the accused were involved in the commission of offence of rioting, murder and other offences as alleged at Shiv Vihar Tiraha, Delhi on February 24, in conspiracy with each other having common intention and unlawful object.

Rahul Solanki, a local resident, who according to the chargesheet filed on June 6, had received firearm injury during the riots and died in the hospital. The charge sheet has been filed against Salman, Sonu Saifi,, Mohd. Arif, Anish Qureshi, Sirajuddin, Mohd Furkan and Mohd Irshad.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Purshotam Pathak said "The public witnesses have stated in their statements that on February 24, 2020,, a riot took place at Shiv Vihar Tiraha, where the rioters pelted stones, chanted anti-Hindu slogans, ransacked and torched many shops and houses and in the process of rioting they also committed the murder of one Rahul Solanki." In its order passed on October 12, the court said "besides the statement of witnesses there is also CCTV footage showing the presence of accused persons at the place of incident on the date and time of commission of offence." The judge took cognizance of the offences under sections 144 (joining unlawful assembly armed with deadly weapon), 147 and 148 (rioting) 149 (unlawful assembly), 302 (murder), 427 (mischief), 436 (mischief by fire or explosive subtsances), 380 (theft in dwelling houses), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code The court, however, did not take cognisance of the offences under sections 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 153 A (promoting enmity between groups based on religion, caste, language etc) and relevant sections of the Arms Act as the sanction required for proceeding against these has not been obtained by the police yet. The investigating officer informed the court that a letter has been sent to the competent authority, but it is not clear as to how much time it would take for obtaining the sanction for prosecution.

The court noted that there was no time frame for obtaining the sanction and any delay in proceeding further in the matter would unnecessarily defeat the purpose for which the special courts for trial of riot cases have been created. Communal clashes had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24 after violence between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled out of control leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured.