'CCTV footages clear, grave offence to murder someone simply because of their community'

New Delhi: Observing that the offence is "very grave", wherein a person was brutally murdered "just because of the fact that he belonged to the other community", a Delhi court on Monday dismissed the bail plea of a man, in his 20s, accused in the murder of a 45-year-old person during the north-east Delhi riots that broke out last year.

Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Yadav, while hearing the bail plea of one Ashish Kumar, noted : "A perusal of the post-mortem report of the deceased Suleman, dated February 28, reveals that he had received as many as 11 injuries, out of which as many as 7 injuries were so grave in nature that they itself were independently and collectively sufficient to cause death of any person in ordinary course of nature".

The court also stated in its order that the deceased's injuries "speaks volumes about the intensity of dastardly act committed by the riotous mob during the course of the communal riots".

The case pertains to the murder, registered at Karawal Nagar Police Station, of one Suleman by a mob near the Prem Vihar puliya after which his dead body was thrown into a drain in Shiv Vihar, as per the Delhi Police.

After the case was transferred to the Crime Branch, testimony of one witness, Sumit Chudhary, was taken, who reportedly claimed that on February 26 at around 9 AM, he had allegedly seen a crowd beating a person in front of his shop "Ghoonghat Emporium" in Shiv Vihar near a toilet, following which the crowd threw him in a nala near the toilet presuming him to be dead, however he was alive and later succumbed to his injuries in the hospital.

The court in its order stated that from the evidence of a number of witnesses recorded in the matter, it is prima facie apparent that the "riotous mob" armed with "weapons" had abducted the deceased Suleman to commit his murder merely on account of the fact that he was from a different community. "The common object of this kind of riotous mob can be easily inferred from their demeanor, depicted in the CCTV footage," ASJ Yadav further

observed.

The court said that there is clear identification of the accused through the evidence of public/eye witnesses. "He is also clearly visible in the CCTV footage walking behind the riotous mob that was prodding deceased Suleman with dandas," the judge said, adding that even in the photographs which were developed from the CCTV footages, "the applicant is clearly seen with co-accused Gaurav and apprehended juvenile being part of the riotous mob and taking active part in the rioting".