A Delhi court on Tuesday, September 20, acquitted a man named Noor Mohammed in the 2020 Delhi riots case, observing that his identification was “probably the outcome of an afterthought” of the Delhi Police, Live Law has reported.
In his cross examination, the Investigating Officer (IO) earlier claimed that no one could identify the person accused of vandalising the shop of the complainant (Mohammed Hanif) other than the complainant himself, the court observed.
At the same time, the IO said that the beat constable had told him that he could identify the person responsible for vandalising Hanif’s shop. Yet, the IO did not record the statement of the beat constable, nor did he mention the fact in the case diary, the court added.
Thus, I find that the IO contradicted his own statement regarding getting information prior to 02.04.2020 of the relevant witness, ie, the beat constable who could identify the culprits.Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala
Surprised over the IO’s failure in recording the statement of the witness officially, the judge said, "This shows that identification of accused on 02.04.2020, was probably outcome of an afterthought development."
The case pertains to a written complaint filed by Md Hanif, alleging that his tailor shop was looted and set on fire by a riotous mob on the evening of 24 February 2020. He also alleged that he had incurred a financial loss of Rs 5 lakh.
Noor was identified as one of the accused in the case and chargesheeted on June 30, 2022.
While acquitting Noor of all charges, the Court noted that the testimony of the beat constable “is not reliable and sufficient at all to establish the presence of the accused in the mob” that had indulged in vandalism during the 2020 riots in north-east Delhi.
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