Shivani Gadhavi
Published On: February 07, 2022 at 18:14 IST
An Additional Sessions Court in Delhi on 3rd February, 2022 framed charges against eleven persons who were found to be involved in the 2020 Riots, that had created havoc in the North-Eastern part of Delhi.
The Additional Sessions Judge, Virender Bhat, framed charges against eleven Accused persons vis-a-vis; Lokesh Solanki, Vivek Panchal, Sumit Chaudhary, Ankit Chaudhary, Pankaj Sharma, Jatin Sharma, Prince, Sahil Babu, Sandeep, Rishabh Chaudhary and Sumit Chaudhary.
The Additional Sessions Judge stated that “Upon perusal of the material annexed along with the Chargesheet particularly the statements of various Witnesses, it is evident that charges u/s 144/147/148/302/201/364 /452 IPC r/w section 149 IPC are made out against all the Accused.”
The charges were framed under certain sections of the Indian Penal Code vis-a-vis Sections 144 (unlawful assembly armed with deadly weapons), 147 (Punishment for Rioting), 148 (Rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 302 (Punishment for Murder), 201 (causing disappearance of Evidence), 364 (kidnapping in order to Murder), 452 (house trespass for hurt, Assault or wrongful restraint) all the sections read with Section 149 (Members of unlawful assembly, guilty of Prosecution of common object).
The Additional Sessions Judge, however did not frame a charge under Section 120B (Criminal Conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code against the eleven persons. The Judge observed that “there is no material on record which would Prima Facie indicate that the Accused had indulged in the riotous incident in pursuance to any Conspiracy and therefore, the charged for the Offence under Section 120b IPC is not made out against them.”
The Public Prosecutor for the State, Saleem Ahmed, however submitted that he needs more time in regards with addressing the issue of Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code. The Court therefore, Adjourned the matter till February 22, 2022.