A Delhi court on Thursday acquitted a Muslim man in a case related to the 2020 riots after observing that the police made “artificial statements” against him, reported Live Law.
Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala of the Karkardooma court said that the police filed a chargesheet against the accused named Javed in a “mechanical manner without actually investigating the incidents properly”.
This is the second time in a month that the court pulled up the Delhi Police over its investigation in a case related to the riots. On August 16, the same court said the police had “manipulated evidence” in another case of the violence, according to Bar and Bench.
Clashes had broken out between supporters of the Citizenship Amendment Act and those opposing it in February 2020 in North East Delhi, killing at least 53 persons and injuring hundreds. Most of those killed in the violence were Muslims.
The case against Javed was related to the violence in the Dayalpur area of the national capital, during which several people were injured and property was damaged. Four separate complaints were filed by the police and later clubbed together.
During Thursday’s hearing, Judge Pramachala said that the investigating officer in the case and a constable, who had identified Javed as one of the rioters, recorded contradictory descriptions of his arrest, reported Bar and Bench.
The judge also noted that the investigating officer took advantage of a break while recording evidence and later changed his version to match the case records.
“My foregoing discussion and observations lead me to hold that prosecution though established the incident of riot, and vandalism, but it failed to prove the presence of the accused in the unlawful assembly responsible for such incidents, beyond reasonable doubts,” the court said.
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