Editor Mr.Mayank Rawat ( Chief Editor Mr. Rohit Mishra )
New Delhi: A Delhi court has framed charges against eight people for the murder of an auto driver during the 2020 Delhi riots, while acquitting 11 accused because of a lack of evidence.
In its March 18 order, the court of additional sessions judge Pulastya Pramachala observed that there was sufficient evidence to charge the eight for murder, rioting and other offences.
“During the course of arguments, the relied upon two video clips were also seen in court. The videos did show the incident of the beating up of a boy on the road. The boy is stated to be Babbu. The videos made it clear that there were two rival groups of persons, who were attacking each other. In the given backdrop of the incident, it is amply clear that those were groups of persons from Hindu and Muslim communities, and that this was one of the incidents of communal riot…. The victim was from the Muslim community and the videos showed that he was chased and assaulted on the road by the members of one of the groups, which is stated to be pertaining to persons from the Hindu community,” the judge said.
According to the prosecution, Babbu, the auto driver, was caught during a violent clash at Khajuri Chowk on Feb 25, 2020, when two groups were throwing stones. He died of severe head injuries on Feb 27.
The court found prima facie evidence against Rahul aka Ajay, Sandeep aka Sanjeev, Harjeet Singh aka Happy, Kuldeep, Bharat Bhushan aka Lucky, Dharmender aka Dham, Sachin Gupta aka Moppi, and Sachin Rastogi under IPC sections 148 (rioting with a deadly weapon), 153-A (promoting enmity between groups), 302 read with 149 (murder committed by unlawful assembly), and 188 (violation of prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC).
Mayank Rawat
