New Delhi, Sep 18 (IANS) A court here on Thursday convicted six men for participating in a rioting mob that vandalised and set ablaze a carpenter’s shop in Sadatpur Extension during the 2020 Delhi riots.

Additional Sessions Judge Parveen Singh of Karkardooma Courts found Hariom Gupta, Basant Kumar Mishra, Gorakh Nath, Rohit Gautam, Kapil Pandey, and Bheem Sain guilty of offences under Sections 147, 148, 188, 435, and 450 of the IPC, read with Section 149, while acquitting them of the graver charge under Section 436 IPC (mischief by fire).

“The prosecution has proved beyond all reasonable doubts that accused on 25.02.2020 at around 11-11.30 p.m were a part of the rioting mob (which had been carrying dandas, stones etc.) of 100 to 150 persons, which had broken open the shutter of the shop of the complainant, taken out the articles from the shop, set those articles on fire and thereafter, set fire inside the shop,” the judgement said.

The case arose from a complaint by shop owner Mohd. Wakeel, who claimed that rioters set his carpenter’s shop ablaze on February 25, 2020, causing losses of around Rs 1.5 lakh.

A key witness in the case was Head Constable Sandeep, the beat officer of the area, who was present on the site during the course of his duty.

The defence argued that he was a “planted witness” and his testimony required corroboration. However, the court rejected this contention, saying: “Merely because a witness is a police witness, his testimony cannot be discarded. He is a witness like any other witness, and he has to be tested on the touchstones of credibility rather than his profession.”

“Therefore, if the testimony of a police witness is found to be credible, the said testimony can be relied upon to arrive at a finding of guilt against the accused,” it added.

The judgment also noted that Sandeep’s presence was supported by the duty roster, rejecting the contention that his presence at the site was improbable. Further, it found no evidence to sustain the charge under Section 436, observing: “There is no evidence that this mischief was done with the intent to cause destruction to the building wherein the shop of the complainant was situated.”

Ultimately, the court held the six guilty of unlawful assembly, rioting with deadly weapons, mischief by fire, house-trespass and violating prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC.

“All the accused are accordingly convicted for offences punishable u/s 188 IPC, u/s 147 r/w Section 149 IPC, u/s 148 r/w Section 149 IPC, Section 450 r/w Section 149 IPC and Section 435 r/w Section 149 IPC and are acquitted of offence punishable u/s 436 r/w Section 149 IPC,” ASJ Singh ruled.

The court will hear the convicts separately on the quantum of sentence.

–IANS

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