2020 Delhi riots: Court acquits man, raps cops

i: A court here has acquitted an accused of all charges and rapped the city police for wrongly clubbing 19 additional complaints related to the 2020 north east Delhi riots that were not investigated “completely” and “properly” with the case.

Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala was hearing a case against Sandeep Kumar, who was accused of being part of a riotous mob that looted, vandalised and torched complainant Shokin’s shop in Shiv Vihar locality here during the communal riots on February 25, 2020.

The court said out of the 19 complaints clubbed with the case, only two pertained to the lane where the complainant’s shop was located.

Besides, according to the Investigating Officer (IO), eight complainants remained untraced, it said.

ASJ Pramachala said, “I fail to understand how police could file chargesheet and untrace report together in this case. This is a wrong practice because the complaints other than those made by Shokin were clubbed for investigation in this case, without having a sound basis to do the same.”

He said when an “untraced” report or closure report is filed by an IO, the complainant has the right to make a representation against it before a metropolitan magistrate.