A court here has acquitted five men accused of vandalising and setting fire to a mosque during the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, saying the police witnesses were not credible and the CCTV camera footage relied upon by the prosecution was inadmissible in evidence.
Additional Sessions Judge Praveen Singh was hearing the case against Ankit, Sourabh Sharma, Rohit, Rahul Kumar and Sachin, who were accused of rioting, unlawful assembly, damage to property and arson.
In an order dated October 31, Justice Singh said, “I find that these witnesses are not credible witnesses and cannot be relied upon to bring home the guilt of the accused as far as the riot, vandalism and arson at Allah Wali Masjid is concerned.”
The five men were arrested in a case related to violence in the Shahid Bhagat Singh Colony, where a mob vandalised and set fire to a mosque during the communal riots in February 2020.
The court said there was a probability that no arson or vandalism had taken place at the Allah Wali Masjid in Karawal Nagar on February 25, 2020, as claimed by the prosecution, and that the testimonies of the police personnel regarding the incident could not be relied upon.
The court pointed out stark contradictions between the testimonies of two police personnel, who claimed to have witnessed the mosque being vandalised and set ablaze around 11 am on February 25, and an independent witness residing opposite the mosque.
The independent witness had testified that the mosque was vandalised and set on fire only once, around 8.15 pm, and that he remained confined to his house for four days after the incident.
The court also noted that the police personnel had given contradictory accounts about their movements in the area on the day of the incident, including their presence at other riot-hit locations.
The court also rejected the CCTV camera footage relied upon by the prosecution, holding that the DVDs and hard disks containing the recordings were inadmissible as the mandatory requirements under Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act had not been fulfilled.
It said the certificate accompanying the hard disks did not mention the details of the computer system used to transfer the data and that the person issuing it had no control over the data provided.
“In view of my aforesaid discussion, the prosecution has failed to prove its case against the accused,” the court said, as it acquitted Ankit, Sourabh, Rohit, Rahul and Sachin of all charges.
