Delhi court terms northeast Delhi riots case probe ‘callous’, ‘inefficient’

Additional sessions judge Vinod Yadav said that “prima facie there is enough material on record to frame charges against one Rohit for unlawful assembly, rioting, house trespass, theft, mischief with fire”.

A Delhi court termed a police probe into a northeast Delhi riots case “highly callous”, “inefficient” and “unproductive”, but said it cannot ignore the statements of the witness while framing charges in the case.

Communal riots had broken out in north east Delhi last year, claiming 53 lives and leaving over 400 injured. (Sanchit Khanna/HT file photo)

Additional sessions judge Vinod Yadav said that “prima facie there is enough material on record to frame charges against one Rohit for unlawful assembly, rioting, house trespass, theft, mischief with fire”.

The FIR in the matter was registered on February 26, 2020, on complaints by three persons, claiming that a riotous mob consisting of about 400-500 persons, armed with dandas and iron rods, blocked the main Gokalpuri road and thereafter set on fire some shops and vehicles in the area of Ganga Vihar and A, B, C and D blocks of Gokalpuri, Delhi-94 on February 24, 2020.

The court, in an order of August 23, said that there was also evidence in the form of supplementary statements of complainant Irshad as well as statements of independent public witnesses where they have given categorical account of the incident in question and the role played by Rohit.

“Ocular evidence is considered the best evidence, unless there are strong reasons to doubt it,” the judge said, adding that the defence has not been able to give any reason worth to disbelieve or discard the evidence of witnesses by doubting their presence at the spot on the date and time of incident.

The judge also said that the beat constables had also identified the accused and such statements cannot be brushed aside/discarded at this stage, merely because there has been some delay in recording their statements or since the complainants had not specifically named them in their initial written complaints.

“Be that as it may, it is worth noting that investigation in the matter appears to be highly callous, inefficient and unproductive; however, as noted earlier this court at this stage, cannot ignore the statements of victims dehors the delay in recording of FIR in the matter,” the court said.

“I am of the considered opinion that prima facie there is enough material on record to frame charges against the accused under requisite sections,” it added.

Communal riots had broken out in north east Delhi last year, claiming 53 lives and leaving over 400 injured.