Tahir Hussain was member of unlawful assembly hostile to Hindus: Delhi Court in conviction order

Former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Tahir Hussain was part of an unlawful assembly having “animus against Hindus", a Delhi court observed on Monday while convicting him for the murder of Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer Ankit Sharma during the 2020 Delhi riots.

In a 320-page judgment, session judge Praveen Singh of Karkardooma court stated that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that Hussain was a member of the unlawful assembly which had gathered with the object of rioting and committing loot and arson.

“The prosecution has successfully proved beyond all reasonable doubt that at the time of the incident, accused Tahir Hussain at around 5.00 p.m on 25.02.2020, was a member of a large crowd and unlawful assembly which, with animus against Hindus, had assembled at Chand Bagh Pulia with a common object to commit rioting, loot, arson and to cause damage to the property and person of the members of the Hindu community; and that the members of this assembly knew that it was likely that in prosecution of the objects of this assembly, death could result and someone could be killed," the judgment said.

The Court also stated that the prosecution proved that members of the unlawful assembly were heavily armed and had abducted and murdered Sharma.

“It is further established that the members of this assembly had surrounded and dragged Ankit Sharma towards Chand Bagh Pulia and had thereby abducted him where after in a savage and relentless assault upon his person, had murdered him,“ the Court concluded.

Thereby, the Court held that since Hussain was a member of this unlawful assembly, he is vicariously liable for the offences committed by it.

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.

He was acquitted of criminal conspiracy under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy), 505 (public mischief) and 109 [abetment] under the Indian Penal Code.

The Court also convicted four more persons - Nazir, Asim, Javed and Anas for the same offences.

The convicts will be heard separately on sentence.

Six accused - Haseen, Firoz, Gulfam, Shoaib Alam, Sameer Khan and Muntazim - were acquitted. 

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 2-3 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 Councilor whose office was nearby, had gathered a lot of 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 in a drain from the mosque at Chand Bagh.

[Read Judgment]