A Delhi court on Friday sentenced former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain and four other convicts to life imprisonment for the murder of Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer Ankit Sharma during the Delhi Riots of 2020. .Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Parveen Singh of the Karkardooma Court rejected the prosecution's plea for death penalty and instead sentenced the five convicts to life in jail.The Court said that while the barbarity of the crime was "nauseating and sickening", the convicts -- Tahir Hussain, Nazir, Asim, Javed and Anas -- are not beyond reformation.It observed that the crime was committed when Delhi was going through communal riots, and it shows utmost brutality. It said that Sharma was sucked in by a murderous mob baying for blood. “The savagery did not end there [with the murder of Sharma]. Instead, the body was strapped like an animal as if the hatred has still not satiated. The body was then thrown into the nallah (drain). The barbarity with which this horrendous crime was committed, is nauseating and sickening. Therefore this is an aggravating circumstance of immense magnitude… The crime test, thus, tilts the case towards rarest of rare cases,” the court said. However, the Court added that the police failed to establish that the convicts have a violent disposition. “It has also not been shown that any of the convicts previously were involved in any violent crime. The conduct of convicts, Tahir Hussain,Nazir, Asim, Javed and Anas, while in custody, except for minor infractions, has been entirely satisfactory. This indicates that they can be disciplined and made to follow rules,” Judge Singh reasoned. Therefore, all the convicts were sentenced to life imprisonment. .The Delhi Police had sought the death penalty for Hussain and other convicts, stating that Sharma’s murder was “cold-blooded” and brutal.“Those who want mercy should also show mercy. They have no evidence to show that any mercy was shown by any person to carry this person to a hospital,” the Delhi Police counsel told the Court. The plea for death penalty was opposed by the counsel representing Hussain and other convicts - Nazir, Asim, Javed and Anas. It was stated that the death penalty can be awarded only in the rarest of rare cases. The Court was told that there was no evidence of conspiracy and that members of the mob that attacked Sharma have been acquitted in the case..Hussain was convicted for offences under Sections 188 (disobedience to an order promulgated by a public servant), 153A (promoting enmity between groups), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent to secretly and wrongfully confine a person), and 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code.The Court also convicted Nazir, Asim, Javed and Anas for the same offences..In the detailed order passed today, Judge Parveen Singh said that also ruled that no specific act had been attributed to, or proved against any of the convicts. "No doubt, as argued by ld. SPP, there is no bar to the handing down of the death penalty to a convict who has been, vicariously and with the aid of sec.149 IPC, found guilty of murder. However, in my considered opinion, in such cases before a life is ordered to be extinguished by a judicial decree, something beyond the membership of an unlawful assembly, though not strictly a direct participation in the fatal assault, is required to be proved," the Court said. It added that the prosecution has failed to prove the allegations that Tahir Hussain aided, abetted, instigated, or led the unlawful assembly. "Once such findings have been returned on the basis of the evidence on record, any submission contrary thereto deserves to be rejected outright. It must also be kept in mind that the allegation of convict Tahir Hussain using his house as a launchpad or base for the riots was neither a part of the charges framed against him in this case, nor was it specifically sought to be proved through evidence," the order stated. .The First Information Report (FIR) in the matter was lodged on a complaint by Ankit Sharma's father, Ravinder Kumar, on February 26, 2020.He alleged that demonstrations by anti-CAA and pro-CAA protesters went on for two to three days at Chand Bagh Pulia, Main Karawal Nagar Road, in which incidents of stone pelting, brick batting, arson, firing and sabotage had taken place from both sides.He claimed that Hussain, the then Municipal Councillor whose office was nearby, had gathered many goons in his office. With their help, he had pelted stones, petrol bombs and also fired shots from the rooftop of the office, creating an atmosphere of fear among the public.Ravinder further alleged that on February 25, 2020, his son went out to buy household goods but did not return for a long time, prompting him to file a missing persons complaint. He was informed by locals that a boy had been thrown into the Khajuri Khas nala from the Masjid of Chand Bagh pulia after he was killed.Subsequently, Ankit's body was recovered from Khajuri Khas nala near Chand Bagh Pulia.In his complaint, Ravinder raised strong suspicion that his son was killed by Tahir Hussain and his goons, who had gathered in his office and, after killing his son, threw his body into the drain..[Read Order]
