Northeast Delhi violence: Court acquits man accused of rioting, arson giving benefit of doubt

New Delhi [India], November 1 : A Delhi Court on Monday acquitted a man, accused of rioting, vandalism, arson and other offences giving the benefit of doubt. The court said that the prosecution could not prove allegations beyond a reasonable doubt.
This case was registered at Gokul Puri police station on the complaint of Shakil Ahmed and Imran Khan.
The complainant had alleged that a mob of around 200 unknown persons broke open the locks and shutters of his shop. They broke 3 refrigerators, counter and other articles in the shop. The complainant alleged that he suffered a loss of 6 lakhs. The lab of Imran Khan was also allegedly vandalised by the riotous mob.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Pulastya Pramachala of Karkardooma Court acquitted Rohit of all the charges levelled against him.
While acquitting the accused, ASJ Pramachala said, "I find that charges levelled against the accused in this case are not proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Hence, accused Rohit is acquitted of all the charges levelled against him in this case".
The accused had been charge-sheeted by the police for having committed offences punishable under Section 147/148/149/188/323/380/427/436 IPC.
The facts of the present case are that on February 29, 2022 FIR was registered on the basis of a complaint made by Shakil Ahmed. He stated that he was residing in Gokal Puri and was running a general shop on the ground floor. He was residing on the first floor of this property.
He alleged that on February 25, 2020, due to riots, he kept his shop closed. At about 11 am,
he was at his residence with his family, when he heard noise and slogans of "Maro Maro Inko Maro, Inka Saman Torh do".
A mob of around 200 unknown persons broke open the locks and shutter of his shop. They broke 3 refrigerators, counter and other articles in the shop. They also took away many articles from his shop, he alleged.
He also alleged that they pelted stones and bricks on his house breaking the glass window panes and the complainant was injured with one such broken glass and brick on his toe. This vandalism continued for an hour and then the mob moved away.
Once again, the mob came back to his property at about 2.30 pm. This time they broke another shutter of the shop, took away the remaining articles and threw a cloth with fire inside the shop. Thereafter, the mob again moved away. Some neighbours took out the burning cloth from the shop of the complainant. Thus, the complainant suffered a loss of around Rs. 6 lakh.
Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) D. K. Bhatia relied upon the testimony of complainants Shakil and Imran to argue that vandalism and arson have been proved. He further relied upon the testimony of Head Constables Jahangir and Mahesh who were on duty on the day of the incident, to submit that these witnesses duly identified the accused as part of the mob, which vandalised the properties of both the complainants.
On the other hand, advocate Vimal Kumar Singh, counsel for the accused, argued that Jahangir and Mahesh were police witnesses, who were planted as eyewitnesses to solve the case.
He further argued that these witnesses claimed having identified the accused on February 25, 2020, but none of them made a such statement to IO immediately nor did they make any such DD entry in the police station.