Delhi court convicts two men of attempted murder and rioting during 2020 riots

New Delhi, Sep 1 (IANS) A Delhi court has convicted two individuals, Imran alias Model and Imran, on charges of attempt to murder and rioting during the infamous 2020 northeast riots, wherein the accused persons were involved in a riotous mob that fired upon a police team and obstructed public servants from carrying out their duties near Brijpuri Pulia on February 25.

In the judgement issued against Imran alias Model and Imran, Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala said: "Both accused are held guilty and convicted for committing offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 148 (rioting, armed with a deadly weapon), 188 (disobedience of order duly promulgated by a public servant), 307 (attempt to murder), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from his duty) read with section 149 (unlawful assembly) of the IPC."

The court said that the prosecution had successfully proved that both accused were part of a riotous mob that had gathered despite prohibitory orders. It was also proven that Model had fired upon the police team.

The judgement further stated: "It is within the knowledge of any normal person that a gunshot may cause the death of the person. It was a matter of chance that the shot fired by Imran alias Model did not hit Head Constable Deepak Malik at a vital body part and that it hit him on his leg."

The court also noted that both accused had used criminal force to obstruct the police officials from performing their duties.

Regarding the identification of the accused, the court found the testimonies of Head Constable Malik and another witness, Head Constable Rohit Kumar, to be consistent.

Additionally, the Medico Legal Case (MLC) and Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report corroborated Malik's gunshot injury.

In response to the defence counsel's arguments that there was no CCTV footage or photographs of Malik's injury, the court stated that it was not necessary for every incident to be captured by CCTV cameras, especially when many cameras were damaged during the riots, and also clarified that a photograph of the injury was not a mandatory requirement.

The court has scheduled the matter for filing affidavits on September 12.