New Delhi: A local court on Friday acquitted four men in a case related to robbing, vandalising and setting a house and shop on fire during the riots in the national Capital in 2020, one of whom, was previously convicted in another case related to the deadly riots.
Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat acquitted Dinesh Yadav, Tinku, Sahil and Sandeep. "All the accused have been acquitted. All accused are directed to file their respective bail bonds on Monday i.e. January 10," the judge ordered. The judgment was pronounced through video conferencing. A detailed order is awaited.
The case was registered against them on the basis of two written complainants filed by Afzal Saifi and Shoaib, residents of Delhi's Bhagirathi Vihar. Saifi had claimed that a riotous mob barged into his house on February 26, 2020, vandalised it, robbed the articles and set it on fire. He further stated that his motorcycle was also burnt to ashes.
Shoaib approached the police with a similar complaint regarding theft in his shop which was clubbed with the complaint of Saifi. During the trial, the accused, through advocates Shikha Garg and Abhishek Garg, argued that they have been falsely implicated in the matter for being a resident of the same locality.
Special Public Prosecutor D K Bhatia had vehemently argued that the four men were found to be active members of the riotous mob on the date and time of the incident, who took active participation in vandalising and setting on fire the house and shop of the complainants.
Significantly, Dinesh Yadav was on December 6, convicted Dinesh Yadav, for setting fire to the home of a 73-year-old woman, Manori, on February 25, 2020. This was the first conviction that the Delhi Police had secured in the over 750 cases registered for the violence during the riots.
Importantly, the Delhi Police's first riots case to finish trial had resulted in an acquittal. In July, the trial court had acquitted a Muslim man accused of rioting and dacoity, noting that the prosecution had miserably failed to prove its case before the court.