The Delhi High Court on Tuesday upheld the trial court order sentencing five men to seven years' imprisonment for culpable homicide over the death of a 22-year-old man during the 2020 Delhi riots.
Justice Madhu Jain dismissed the appeal filed by convicts Aman Kashyap, Devinder Kumar, Pradeep Rai, Ashish @ Goli and Arun Kumar against their conviction.
The High Court ruled that the evidence showed “more than the mere presence” of the appellants in a crowd.
“The common judgment of conviction dated 30.11.2024 and order on sentence dated 13.01.2025 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge-03, North-East District, Karkardooma Courts, Delhi, in Sessions Case No. 199/2021, arising out of FIR No. 87/2020 registered at Police Station Dayalpur, are upheld insofar as the present appellants are concerned,” Justice Jain concluded.
The five men were convicted by the trial court under Sections 148 (rioting while armed with a deadly weapon) and 304 Part I (culpable homicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Notably, the case arose from an FIR registered at the Dayalpur police station after a man, identified as Monish, was allegedly chased and assaulted by a mob near Brijpuri on February 25, 2020. Monish later died in the hospital.
The convicts argued that the prosecution's case suffered from inconsistencies in eyewitness accounts, delays in recording police witnesses' statements and the absence of a test identification parade.
Rejecting the challenge, the High Court relied on the testimony of a police constable who identified the five men as being at the forefront of the armed mob and allegedly exhorting others to assault Monish.
The court also considered the accounts of other police personnel who described the pursuit and assault before the injured man was rescued.
It observed that the absence of a test identification parade did not automatically invalidate identification evidence.
Advocates Faraz Anees and Kartik Vashisht appeared for the convicts.
Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Rajat Nair with advocates Dhruv Pande, Imon Bhattacharya and Sarthak represented the State.
[Read Judgement]