Tahir Hussain, suspended Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor, has confessed to planning the Northeast Delhi riots, Delhi Police reportedly said in its interrogation report (IR). His lawyer, however, has denied this.
According to The Print, the IR, filed by Delhi Police in June, says that Hussain has admitted to wanting to “teach Hindus a lesson” by making use of of his political position and money.
The report is part of the chargesheet filed by Delhi police.
Contents of the IR
According to ANI, the report says that Hussain’s acquaintance Khailid Saifi was asked to gather people on the streets to protest.
ANI reported that the Delhi Police quoted Tahir Hussain saying, “Khalid Saifi, along with his friend Ishrat Jahan, first started a dharna demonstration in Khureji on the lines of Shaheen Bagh.”
Tahir Hussain had said that he also met student leader Umar Khalid at the office of Popular Front of India (PFI) in Shaheen Bagh, claimed police.
The Delhi Police report further said that Hussain’s job entailed collecting acid, petrol, glass bottles and stones, and keeping them on the rooftop of his house in Chand Bagh.
According to The Print, the IR said Hussain confessed that he did not want to harm people of his own community during the riots, and so he shifted his wife, children and some relatives to a “safer place’. He also allegedly pulled out all CCTV cameras, and kept calling the Delhi Police officers on the day of the riots to prevent getting suspected. The Delhi Police, in its report, also says that the intent behind the riots was to put pressure on the Central government amid US President Donald Trump’s visit to India.
The Delhi Police chargesheet accuses Hussain, along with nine others, for planning the murder of Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma amid the violence in Northeast Delhi.
Further, the Delhi police stated that Hussain was upset after the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, and the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title suit, according to The Print.
Lawyer Responds
Tahir Hussain’s lawyer Javed Ali responded to the story, saying that such confessional statements have no validity and accused the police of manipulating facts.
“Police is manipulating facts as their wish and desire. Tahir Hussain has not admitted anything with regard to Delhi Riots cases, the reality is he himself is a victim and has been falsely implicated. Moreover, A confessional statement made by a person to the police even before he is accused of any offence is equally irrelevant. The section of (India Evidence Act) clearly says that such a statement cannot be proved against any person accused of any offence,” Javed Ali said.
He further added, “It does not indeed come within the definition of ‘evidence' contained in section 3 of the Evidence Act. It is not required to be given on oath, nor in the presence of the accused, and it cannot be tested by cross examination and It is a much weaker type of evidence than the evidence of an approver, which is not subject to any of those infirmities."
According to Javed Ali, “Only confession before the magistrate under Section 164 of CrPC is only admissible in the eyes of law which has never been given by Tahir Hussain”.
(With inputs from The Print and ANI).
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