2020 Delhi riots: Court says ‘unsafe’ to rely on tainted witness testimony
Delhi Court Acquits 13 in 2020 Riots Case Over Witness Credibility Issues
Bharatmorningnews.com – A judicial court in New Delhi has set free 13 individuals accused in connection with the 2020 northeast Delhi communal violence, citing significant concerns regarding the reliability of the primary prosecution witness.
Additional Sessions Judge Parveen Singh delivered the verdict, emphasizing that the testimony of the crucial witness, designated as PW8, remained questionable. The judge pointed out that the CCTV recordings used for identifying the accused were of insufficient quality to confirm their identities with certainty.
"Considering the fact that this witness had suddenly become an eyewitness and in view of the above discussion that the testimony of PW8 as an eyewitness is under a shadow of doubt, it will be unsafe to rely upon the testimony of PW8," the court stated in its latest order.
Case Background and Charges
The legal proceedings centered on an altercation that occurred on February 25, 2020, within the jurisdiction of the New Usmanpur police station. During the communal unrest, Raman Chauhan reportedly suffered an attack. According to his court statement, Chauhan was unable to recognize any of the individuals who assaulted him.
Law enforcement officials filed an FIR naming 13 suspects: Mohammad Anas, Mobin, Mohd. Javed Khan (also known as Shanu), Faisal, Shahjad Khan (alias Montu), Imran Khan, Badshah Khan, Irfan Khan, Siraj Khan, Arman (alias Arbaz), Aman (alias Suhail), and Iqbal Khan (alias Sonu).
These defendants confronted multiple allegations, including participation in riots, rioting while armed with lethal weapons, attempted murder, criminal conspiracy, and violating directives issued by a public official.
Witness Testimony Under Scrutiny
The court highlighted a notable inconsistency in the prosecution witness's account. Initially, during the investigation phase, the witness claimed he did not observe the incident firsthand. Later, however, he presented himself before the court as an eyewitness and identified two of the accused using CCTV footage.
Judge Singh concluded that these substantial improvements in the witness's statement made his testimony unreliable. Furthermore, the court observed that the video recordings were monochrome, dim, and grainy. The Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) could not provide a definitive opinion on facial identification due to inadequate pixel resolution in the footage.
Conspiracy and Procedural Failures
Regarding the allegation of criminal conspiracy, the court issued a pointed observation. It ruled that merely recovering weapons was insufficient to prove a conspiracy existed. The judgment noted the absence of evidence detailing when, where, or how the alleged conspiracy was formed, as well as which individuals participated in it.
Additionally, the court discovered that the prosecution had not followed the required procedures for proclamation proceedings concerning several accused individuals charged under Section 174A of the Indian Penal Code.
"In view of the above discussion, all the accused are accordingly acquitted of all the charges framed against them," the court declared in its final ruling.
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