A criminal court in Delhi has framed murder charges along with rioting and criminal conspiracy against four persons in last year's riots. They have been accused of killing a man during the riots and the court has called it a calculated attack.
A man named Deepak was murdered by the four – Anwar Hussain, Kasim, Shahrukh, and Khalid Ansari. They had allegedly beaten him up near Ambedkar College on February 25, 2020. He died due to hemorrhagic shock, as per the post mortem report.
Amitabh Rawat, the Additional Sessions Judge framed the charges against the accused under requisite sections and explained it to them in vernacular with their lawyers present. They have pleaded not guilty and claimed for a trial in the case.
He said, "By the manner of their mobilization and intent as construed from their conduct, the said unlawful assembly can be said to have conducted itself for riots and other offences like the murder of deceased Deepak, in the prosecution of their common object".
In an order dated November 9, he had said that the conspiracy was also writ large by the calculated attack on the victim by the unlawful assembly.
The judge also observed that one Sunil Kumar is the most important witness in the case. Sunil Kumar was an eyewitness to the entire incident and gave a detailed description of how the deceased Deepak was killed by the "armed Muslim mob consisting of accused persons".
Sunil Kumar had stated, "On February 25, one Muslim unlawful assembly coming from Kardampuri Pulia and shouting Allah Ho Akbar was trying to cross the Pulia Gokulpur. The said armed unlawful assembly caught hold of Deepak who was mercilessly beaten", as per the court order.
Mr. Kumar, the eyewitness told the court that he hid behind a wall behind the drain and saw the entire murder through a gap in the wall. He also identified all the four accused persons by their names.
The court also noted, "Thus, for the purpose of the charge, the prosecution has been able to satisfy the Court that an unlawful assembly including accused persons in the prosecution of their common object had committed riots and hit the deceased Deepak with a deadly weapon causing his death".
In its verdict, the court said that there were grounds for presuming that the four accused had committed offences under Sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with a deadly weapon), and 302 (murder) read with Section 14( (member of unlawful assembly guilty of the offence committed in prosecution of common object) of the Indian Penal Code. Murder charges under Section 302 are to be read with 120B (criminal conspiracy).
Violent communal clashes broke out in northeast Delhi in February 2020, after violence between the supporters and its protesters of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act went out of control and left at least 53 people dead and over 700 injured.
