Court frames murder charges against 8

A Delhi court has framed charges against eight individuals for the murder of an auto driver, Babbu, during the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, while discharging 11 other accused due to a lack of evidence. In its March 18 order, Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala ruled that there was sufficient material to charge the eight accused—Rahul alias Ajay, Sandeep alias Sanjeev, Harjeet Singh, alias Happy, Kuldeep, Bharat Bhushan, alias Lucky, Dharmender alias Dham, Sachin Gupta, alias Moppi, and Sachin Rastogi — under sections 148, 153-A, 302 read with 149, and 188 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

According to the prosecution, Babbu was caught in violent clashes at Khajuri Chowk on February 25, 2020, when two rival mobs—one from the Hindu community and the other from the Muslim community—engaged in stone-pelting. He sustained severe head injuries and succumbed to them on February 27. Witness testimonies, along with video footage obtained from the BBC, suggested that Babbu was specifically targeted and beaten by members of the Hindu mob. Several public witnesses and police officers identified the accused through dossier photographs and video clips.

“It is not the case that any of these accused persons have been chargesheeted only on the basis of disclosure statement of co accused. Arrest of an accused based on disclosure statement, is different from charge sheeting such accused. All these accused were duly identified by the witnesses. If Investigating Officer (IO) did not get all of them identified in the video, from the witnesses, at the most it can be termed as an omission on the part of IO. But, such omission of IO does not wash away evidence of witnesses.” the court remarked.

The court discharged 11 accused—Rijwan, Israr, Tayyab, Iqbal, Juber, Maroof, Shamim alias Lala, Adil, Shahbuddin, Farman, and Imran—after finding no evidence that they participated in Babbu’s assault.

“The video evidence clearly shows that these accused were not involved in the fatal attack. Instead, they appeared to be sympathisers who later approached the victim after he was assaulted,” the judge observed.

The court found prima facie evidence against the eight accused under sections 148 (rioting with a deadly weapon), 153-A (promoting enmity between groups), 302 read with 149 (murder committed by an unlawful assembly), and 188 (violation of prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC) of the IPC. However, charges of conspiracy under Section 120-B IPC and making inflammatory statements under Section 505 IPC were dropped due to insufficient evidence.