Delhi Riots 2020: HC Grants Bail to 2 Accused in Murder Case of 85-Yr-Old Woman

Akbari Begum, 85, was inside her house when a mob allegedly set it on fire, which led to her death.

Image from riots in north east Delhi in February 2020.

(Photo: The Quint)

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday, 1 February, granted bail to two of the three accused in the murder case of an 85-year-old woman during the North East Delhi riots in 2020.

Justice Subramonium Prasad granted bail to accused Arun Kumar and Ravi Kumar but denied relief to Vishal Singh, the third accused in the case. The accused are facing prosecution in the murder case of Akbari Begum.

“The clinching evidence that tilts this Court to prolong the incarceration of the petitioner is his presence in the clipping wherein he is clearly identified at the scene of crime, pelting stones and dragging a scooty near the scene of crime and pelting stones towards the residence of the complainant," said Justice Prasad, while declining the bail to Vishal Singh.

"The petitioner was not a mere curious onlooker and the mob, in which the petitioner was participating, set fire to the house of the complainant resulting in the death of an old lady,” he added.

Murder Case of 85-Year-Old Akbari Begum

The case was registered at the Bhajanpura police station in northeast Delhi.

According to the prosecution, the elderly resident of Bhajanpura was inside her house when a mob allegedly set it on fire, which led to her death.

While other family members managed to climb up to the rooftop to save themselves, Begum failed to leave her room on the second floor or climb up using a ladder due to her old age. She later died of suffocation.

A First Information Report (FIR) was later filed under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including murder, attempt to murder, dacoity with murder, and rioting.

According to the charge sheet, the statements of various police personnel, eyewitnesses, and those who helped to douse the fire were recorded to identify the people in the rioting mob and those who set the house on fire.

The police later arrested and charge-sheeted six persons – Arun Kumar, Varun Kumar, Vishal Singh, Ravi Kumar, Prakash Chand, and Suraj.

Communal violence had erupted in northeast Delhi in February 2020 after people protesting the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act and those supporting it clashed, leaving at least 53 people dead and over 700 injured.

(With inputs from PTI.)