Delhi Riots: Court acquits 6 accused of arson near mosque, slams Delhi Police for fabricating evidence

A Delhi court recently reprimanded the Delhi Police for foisting a false case on six men, who had been accused of committing arson near the Azizia Masjid during the 2020 North-East Delhi riots [State vs Ishu Gupta & Ors].

Additional Sessions Judge Praveen Singh proceeded to acquit all six persons accused in the matter.

“It is apparent that merely in order to work out a case, a false case has been foisted upon the accused and PW10 HC Vikas, the only eye witness of the case, is completely unreliable qua these accused persons. All the accused are entitled to be acquitted of all the charges,” the Court stated in its August 25 ruling.

The accused persons who were acquitted are Ishu Gupta, Prem Prakash, Raj Kumar, Manish Sharma, Rahul and Amit.

They had been accused of being part of a mob that set fire to a scooty, homes, and shops near Azizia Masjid.

The trial court, however, found that the Investigation Officer (IO) of the Delhi Police had tampered with and fabricated evidence and witnesses to close the case. This resulted in a serious trampling of the accused men's rights, the court said.

“I must observe that there has been an egregious padding of evidence by the IO and this has resulted in serious trampling of the rights of the accused, who have been probably charge sheeted only in order to show that this case is worked out,” the court stated.

The court noted that despite glaring contradictions in the IO’s report, the supervising officers, namely the Station House Officer and Assistant Commissioner of Police, also mechanically forwarded the charge sheet. 

The court added that there were several discrepancies and procedural lapses on the part of the Delhi Police during the arrest of the accused and the investigation. 

“I fail to understand that when the accused were already in custody, why the process of identification of accused through photographs was conducted instead of having their judicial TIP conducted,” the court said.

It proceeded to acquit all the accused and referred the matter to the Commissioner of Police, so that remedial action may be taken.

“Such instances lead to serious erosion of the faith of the people in the investigating process and the rule of law and therefore, I deem it appropriate that the copy of this judgment be sent to worthy Commissioner of Police for his perusal, with a request to take remedial action,” the order stated. 

[Read judgment]