NEW DELHI
A Delhi court on Friday framed charges against 13 persons, including Congress leader Asif Muhammad Khan, and discharged 12 others in the 2007 Jamia Nagar riots case, nearly 19 years after mob violence erupted outside the Jamia Nagar police post in southeast Delhi.
The order was passed by special judge Vishal Gogne of Rouse Avenue Courts, in a case filed at the New Friends Colony police station on charges of rioting, attempt to murder, arson, assault on public servants, dacoity and damage to public property.
According to the police, represented by additional public prosecutor Manish Rawat, the violence took place on the evening of September 22, 2007, after police allegedly removed a market near a burial ground during the Ramzan period. Police alleged that around 400-500 persons gathered outside the Jamia Nagar police post, raising slogans against the Delhi Police and carrying sticks (lathi and danda) in their hands.
Police alleged that several local leaders, including the former Congress legislator and area councillors, were among the crowd that instigated the mob.
According to the FIR, despite attempts by police to pacify the crowd, the mob turned violent, attacked police personnel, damaged vehicles and set police property on fire. The prosecution alleged that the mob pelted stones at police officers while some rioters also allegedly opened fire. The barracks and multiple rooms were set afire and official furniture, documents and case files were allegedly destroyed. Nearly 14 vehicles, including three official vehicles, were damaged, the prosecution alleged.
{{/usCountry}}According to the FIR, despite attempts by police to pacify the crowd, the mob turned violent, attacked police personnel, damaged vehicles and set police property on fire. The prosecution alleged that the mob pelted stones at police officers while some rioters also allegedly opened fire. The barracks and multiple rooms were set afire and official furniture, documents and case files were allegedly destroyed. Nearly 14 vehicles, including three official vehicles, were damaged, the prosecution alleged.
{{/usCountry}}A charge sheet was filed against 36 persons, of whom four died and one was declared a proclaimed offender.
In its order, the court observed a prima facie grave suspicion against the 13 accused persons for allegedly being part of a violent mob that torched police booths and assaulted police personnel, causing them grievous injuries.
However, the court raised serious doubts about the investigation against the discharged accused, stating they were arrested later from multiple public places.
It noted, “The arrest was neither spontaneous nor within any exclusive knowledge of the cited police persons who identified the accused persons at the point of arrest.”
Calling the investigation doubtful, the court observed that “the non-availability of public witnesses has the classic imprint of a concocted investigation.”
Judge Gogne observed that several police witnesses who identified the accused did not give detailed accounts of the incident or explain their presence during the violence.
The court also criticised the use of the same police personnel during different arrest proceedings, stating, “The arrests bore all the hallmarks of a contrived documentation of arrest using the same set of rotating witnesses.”
The court said, “It seems strongly probable to the court that the investigation team collected a host of police persons as witnesses…in order to provide a contrived picture of verifiability of the arrest proceedings.”
Holding that the material against the 12 discharged accused did not cross the threshold of “grave suspicion”, the court discharged them from the case while directing charges to be framed against the remaining accused.