Anushka Mansharamani
A court while taking cognizance of the supplementary charge-sheet filed in the case of the Delhi riots stated that there was reasonable ground to show that the former JNU student leader Umar Khalid and suspended AAP councillor Tahir Hussain were involved in the North-east Delhi riots that took place last year.
As per the Chief Metropolitan magistrate Dinesh Kumar, there is sufficient record and evidence present in the case to proceed against Khalid for communal violence that took place in Khajuri Khas area, Delhi in February last year.
According to a statement, passed by a witness, Dinesh Kumar stated that it can be concluded that Khalid was in contact with Hussain during the riots.
Hussain was accused as the main conspirator who funded these riots.
The prosecution filed charges stating that Khalid was an active participant in the conspiracy which instigated the riots to take place in Delhi.
The order stated that “Due to the instigation by the accused persons, a mob had gathered which had robbed persons and burnt down the properties including houses and shops.”
The prosecution had relied on the statements of the witnesses and a perusal of his statement could prove that he was working as a driver of Hussein at that time under section 161 of the criminal procedure code.
As per the statement, the court further stated that the witness had seen Hussain distributing money to the people who were participating in the demonstration against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
The statement also alleged that on 8 January 2020, he had taken Hussain to Shaheen Bagh where Hussain had entered an office and later saw Umar Khalid and Khalid Saifi entering the same office.
According to this statement, Hussain was in the office for one and a half hours and thereby the court presumes that the amount of time is sufficient to prove that Umar Khalid was in contact with Hussain.
Therefore, the Chief Metropolitan magistrate Dinesh Kumar found reasonable ground to prima facie show that the accused Kumar Khalid and Tahir Hussain had conspired together to commit offenses as mentioned earlier in the charge sheet.
The court instructed the investigating officer to present a copy of the supplementary charge-sheet to Khalid.
The court also issued a notification to the police about the application made by Khalid alleging that a vicious media campaign was being conducted against him.
This supplementary charge-sheet was filed by the police on 26th December 2019 and the charge-sheet against 15 other accused in the case was filed in June 2020.
Khalid was arrested in September for another case relating to conspiracy in the riots and was booked under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA.
Communal violence had taken place in Delhi on 24th February 2020 after the Citizenship Act was passed and due to the protests that took place approximately 53 people died and more than 200 were injured.
