New Delhi, Oct 28 The Delhi High Court has upheld the conviction and seven-year jail term awarded to five men for the death of a 22-year-old man during the communal riots in north-east Delhi in February 2020.
Justice Madhu Jain dismissed the appeals by Aman Kashyap, Devinder Kumar, Pradeep Rai, Ashish and Arun Kumar challenging the trial court's decision, stating that as per the eyewitness' account, the appellants were at the forefront of an armed mob and exhorted others to assault the deceased, Mohsin.
After convicting the appellants on November 20, 2024, for the offences under sections 304 Part I (Culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 148 (Rioting, armed with deadly weapon) of the Indian Penal Code, the trial court sentenced them to rigorous imprisonment for a period of seven years, along with a fine of Rs 30,000, on January 13, 2025.
The appellants argued that the independent witnesses did not support the prosecution case and the case against them was not established beyond reasonable doubt.
Rejecting the appellants' contentions, the court observed that the appellants cannot claim acquittal merely because the prosecution was unable to determine which specific member of the mob inflicted the deadly injury on the deceased's head.
"In the present case, the evidence establishes more than the mere presence of the appellants in a crowd. PW-10 (the beat constable) identified all five appellants at the forefront of the armed mob, exhorting others to assault the deceased," the court stated in the judgement passed on October 27.
"The deceased was pursued, surrounded and assaulted even after he had fallen near the police barricades. The conduct attributed to the appellants, the weapons carried by members of the mob and the continued assault upon the deceased provide the factual basis for concluding that the assembly had an unlawful common object of assaulting the deceased and causing bodily harm to him," it added.
The appellants allegedly assaulted the deceased on February 25, 2020 during the communal violence in Chand Bagh area. The deceased succumbed to his injuries.
In its judgement, the trial court had held that evidence established that a riotous mob, armed with deadly weapons, killed Mohsin near the Peer Baba Mazar in the Chand Bagh area on February 25, 2020.
The testimonies of prosecution witnesses left no doubt that the five accused persons were part of the riotous mob that assaulted the victim, it had said.
