A sheer wastage of judicial time: Three discharged in riots case

New Delhi: Noting that the charges filed by the Delhi Police in a Delhi riots case did not have the basic evidence required for it to go to trial, a local court has now discharged three men, also adding that it would be a "sheer wastage of judicial time if the charges are to be framed against the accused".

Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat, in his order discharging three men accused of rioting and hurting people during the deadly north-east Delhi riots in February 2020, said, "Even if the evidence sought to be adduced by the prosecution against these accused remains unrebutted during the trial, their conviction cannot be ordered in view of the Rule laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the above noted judgment in Masalti's case which mandates that there should be at least two prosecution witnesses to identify the role and involvement of the accused in the incident in question," referring to the evidence produced against two of the three accused.

The court said that these two accused, Nitin and Shiva were arrested on the basis of an inadmissible disclosure statement of the third accused Surinder Soni and the alleged witness statement of one Constable Anuj. "Thus, there is only one witness, who is stated to have identified these two witnesses as the assailants," the court said, adding that even the policeman had identified them from CCTV footage and not from the scene of the crime.

Moreover, the court found that charges filed against Surinder Soni also do not hold ground. The court noted that the police had identified Soni allegedly from CCTV footage of the Brahmapuri area showing him holding a folding stick.

While the police called him to the station and arrested him thereafter, the complainant also was in the station that day and identified Soni as the person who threw stones at him. "There is nothing on record to show as to who had identified the person with folding stick in his hand," the court said, adding that even the complainant had never mentioned in his statement that he had identified people during the rioting or that he could name them at a later stage.