First sentencing in Delhi riots: Convict let off with jail term undergone

Police have claimed that Shahrukh Pathan allegedly aimed the pistol at Delhi Police head constable Deepak Dahiya with an intention to kill him during the riots in February

In the first sentencing in the north-east Delhi riots, a city court on Friday let off a convict by awarding him a period already undergone in jail and imposing a fine of ₹2,000, after he admitted to harbouring Shahrukh Pathan, the man who allegedly aimed a pistol at a police officer on February 24, 2020.

At least 53 people during the February 2020 riots. (Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

Pathan allegedly fled after the incident and was nabbed from a bus stand in Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli on March 3, 2020.

On December 7, the court convicted Kaleem Ahmed for giving shelter to Pathan at Shamli, after he pleaded guilty to the crime.

To be sure, this is the second conviction in riots cases. On December 6, a city court convicted Dinesh Yadav, alias Michael (25), for setting on fire a 73-year old woman’s house in Gokalpuri during the communal violence. The court will hear arguments on sentencing on December 22.

Additional sessions judge Amitabh Rawat on Friday said that Ahmed had shown remorse, prayed leniency and pleaded to having been misled by Pathan. The judge said that Ahmed has already suffered imprisonment from March 17, 2020, to September 7, 2021, but noted that the maximum sentence that can be awarded is three years. “Considering family status of convict, his whole individual position, the factum of his voluntary plea of guilt and the fact that his apparent act of contrition deserves to be taken at the face value to give another chance to him to reform himself and considering his role and the offence, the convict is sentenced to the period already undergone by him and also to a fine of ₹2,000, in default of payment of fine, simple imprisonment of one month,” the court said.

The court also noted that there were nine persons dependent on Ahmed, including a paralysed father.

Communal riots had broken out in north-east Delhi in February 2020, leaving 53 dead and over 700 injured.