Delhi riots: Court frames charges against 10 men, says they wanted to create fear among local Hindus, threatened them to leave country

New Delhi: A local court has framed charges against 10 persons in a Delhi riots case, saying they were members of an unlawful assembly formed with an objective to create fear and panic amongst the Hindu community and threaten them to leave the country.

According to the police, the 10 accused men resorted to violence and loot, and set ablaze the properties belonging to "members of the Hindu community" at Delhi's Bhagirathi Vihar area on February 25, 2020.

Relying on the statements of witnesses, Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat said, "Material on record prima facie discloses that the accused were the members of an unlawful assembly which had been formed with the object to create fear and panic amongst the people belonging to Hindu Community, to threaten them to leave the country and to cause arson, loot."

The judge, in an order dated December 13, framed charges against Mohd Shahnawaz, Mohd Shoaib, Shahrukh, Rashid, Azad, Ashraf Ali, Parvez, Mohd Faisal, Rashid, and Mohd Tahir.

It has invoked sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 436 (mischief by fire), 452 (house-trespass with preparation to assault), 454 (lurking house-trespass), 392 (robbery), 427 (mischief) read with Section 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code.