Delhi High Court Upholds Seven-Year Prison Sentences of Five Men Convicted in Delhi Riots Case
The Delhi High Court upheld five convicts’ seven-year sentence in 2020 riots case that caused the death of a 22-year-old man. Justice Madhu Jain on Tuesday rejected an appeal filed by convicts Aman Kashyap, Devinder Kumar, Pradeep Rai, Ashish Goli and Arun Kumar seeking to overturn their conviction by a trial court.
“A common judgment of conviction dated 30.11.20 and order on sentence dated 13.01.20 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge-03, North- East District, Karkardooma Courts, Delhi in Sessions Case No. 199/20 of 2021 arising out of FIR No.87/20 of 2020 registered at Police Station Dayalpur,” Justice Jain said in the order. “Are upheld insofar as the present appellants are concerned.”
All five men were sentenced under Sections 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons) and 304 Part I (causing death by rash or negligent act) of the IPC.
The prosecution case arises out of an FIR registered at Dayalpur police station, where an individual named Monish was chased by a crowd outside Brijpuri. After being beaten by the crowd, Monish was picked up by individuals, following which he suffered injuries before dying at the hospital.
The convicts claimed a lack of evidence against them and highlighted contradictions in eyewitness testimonies, delayed statements of police witnesses, and no instance of a test identification parade conducted. Rejecting their appeal, the High Court pointed to the testimony of a police constable, who found the five men “leading the armed crowd” at the forefront and egging on the crowd to attack Monish.
The High Court judgment also pointed to testimonies by other cops present at the site, where they gave details of chasing and beating the victim before locals rescued him.
The judgment added that the “mere fact that a test identification parade was not held does not mean that the identification of witnesses becomes irrelevant”.
Faraz Anees and Kartik Vashisht represented the convicts. Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Rajat Nair with Dhruv Pande, Imon Bhattacharya, and Sarthak appeared for the State.
