2020 Delhi riots: Court orders framing of attempt to murder charges against 13 accused

A court in Delhi has ordered framing of charges including those for rioting criminal conspiracy and attempt to murder against 13 accused in a case of the 2020 northeast Delhi riots PTI reportedAdditional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala was hearing a case against 13 men who were accused of being a part of a riotous mob that attacked the complainant with swords and other weapons in Gautam Vihar on February 25 2020The judge said there was a prima facie case against all accused persons for the offences of criminal conspiracy rioting unlawful assembly attempt to murder and disobedience to public servants orderHead is a vital part of the body and it is within the common knowledge of every prudent person that any blow over the same can result in deathWith such knowledge if a person is assaulted on head more than once with a weapon like a sword as well as blunt objects then there cannot be any doubt that a case for an offence under IPC section 307 attempt to murder would be made out the judge said in an order passed on June 3Noting the evidence before the court including CCTV footage and statements of witnesses the judge said I do find that all the accused persons in this case formed an unlawful assembly with a common object including the object to attack upon persons from Hindu CommunityA criminal conspiracy was hatched by them to achieve this common object and subsequently the mob chased and attacked the complainant the judge saidASJ Pramachala said courts recognise there is little chance of getting direct evidence of a conspiracy and so they make inferences on the basis of the conduct of the accused persons and the probable reason behind such conductThe kind of slogan and kind of choice of person to assault adopted by these persons leave a clear impression that this mob was there to target persons from Hindu community the judge saidAlso readGang that duped nearly 2000 people across the country busted six arrestedHe said assembling in a lane and arranging weapons cannot be assumed to be a momentary development and such preparations along with the conduct of the members of the mob showed they were acting out of a prior meeting of their mind and with a clearcut objective in mind to harm Hindus in every possible mannerThe complainant was only a victim of the actions taken in pursuance of the criminal conspiracy to kill any person from the Hindu community the judge addedThe court rejected the argument of the defence that some of the accused were bystandersIt is also not acceptable that just because some accused are not seen in the footage showing assault upon the complainant they were not part of this groupmob the court saidIt also said the test identification parade TIP is a matter of prudence and additional safeguard for the prosecutions case and its absence cannot be sought by the accused as a ground for dischargeThe court also said eight of the accused were also liable to be tried under IPC section 174 A nonappearance in response to a proclamationThe New Usmanpur police station had registered an FIR against Mohammed Anas Mobin Mohammed Javed Khan Faisal Shahjad Khan Shoaib Khan Imran Khan Badshah Khan Irfan Khan Siraj Khan Arman Aman and Iqbal Khan in connection with the case PTI