Delhi riots 2020: Court pulls up prosecution for not submitting evidence to identify accused

A local court has reprimanded the prosecution for its failure to present a video related to the identification of the individuals involved in the 2020 northeast Delhi riots case.

During a hearing on Friday, Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Pulastya Pramachala expressed dissatisfaction with the prosecution’s actions, characterizing them as attempts to deceive the court. The judge also cautioned the investigative agency against engaging in such behavior in the future.

The case pertains to an incident reported by the Dayalpur police station involving Mohammed Farooq and others. The court had previously instructed the prosecution to provide a video to aid in identifying the accused.

In an order issued on Friday, the ASJ remarked, “It is unfortunate that till date, the Special Public Prosecutor and Sub-Inspector Rajiv (the Investigating Officer) have been befooling this court in the name of the pendency of this video and the report before FSL, without actually having any information in respect of the same. The same should not be repeated in the future.”

The absence of the video, which the investigative agency relied upon for identifying the accused, led to a suspension of the prosecution’s evidence in the case.

Based on the information available from submitted reports, the ASJ noted that a mirrored copy of the video is still pending preparation and acquisition from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL). The judge stated, “There has not been any concrete action so far, but it is expected that at least now the Station House Officer (SHO) shall make his endeavour to get this mirror copy at the earliest possible time (from the FSL)…”

In the previous hearing on July 6, the court had emphasized the relevance of the video to the ongoing case.

Further proceedings in this matter have been scheduled for October 9.

(With PTI inputs)