Court Acquits Three Accused In Rioting And Burning Of Book Shop In Dayalpur Riots

Court acquitted three accused of rioting and burning a book shop during the riots in Dayalpur area of north-east Delhi in February 2020. The court, while acquitting accused Akram, Mohammed Furkan and Mohammed Irshad, rejected the testimony of two police witnesses who claimed to have seen the accused persons in the rioting crowd during the incidents.

Testimony from policemen rejected

Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala said the charges against the three accused in this case have not been proved beyond reasonable doubt. In the verdict, the court acquitted accused Akram, Mohammad Furkan and Mohammad Irshad of the charges in connection with the incident that took place at a shop named Chawla Book Center located at Shiv Vihar Tiraha, giving them the benefit of doubt.

Rejecting the testimony of two police constables on the issue of presence of the accused in the riotous crowd, the court said, “I think it is not safe to rely on the testimony of constable Pawan Kumar and constable Amit to assume the presence of all the accused persons in the crowd.” , who were behind the incident at Gulshan Kumar’s shop.

The court heard that the one-line statement by the two witnesses that they had seen the accused persons in the incident in the shop was not sufficient to inspire confidence. Also there is a gap in the prosecution evidence to show which particular video these two witnesses had watched to identify the accused persons.

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Dayalpur Riots: Court said…

The court further said that both these witnesses have stated that they knew the accused and their workplace before the incident. However, even after giving his statement before the IO, he did not take the IO to the respective places of these accused persons. The present FIR was registered on March 4, 2020, based on a written complaint dated March 1, 2020, given by a person named Gulshan Kumar.

In his complaint he alleged that on February 24, 2020, his 20-year-old shop under the name and style of Chawla Book Centre, located near Rajdhani Secondary School, Shiv Vihar Tiraha, was set on fire during a riot. The complainant further alleged that all the goods of his above mentioned shop were burnt and he suffered a loss of approximately Rs 8-10 lakh.