Click the Play button to listen to article

A Delhi Court on Friday sentenced former Aam Aadmi Party councillor Tahir Hussain to two years in jail after convicting him for the offence of abetment of rioting in relation to a North-East Delhi riots case.

Additional Sessions Judge Parveen Singh of Karkardooma Courts noted that the present case was the second conviction of Tahir Hussain for his alleged involvement in the riots of February 2020.

Even though noting that it was undoubtedly an aggravating circumstance, the Court said that serious aggravating circumstance was the position which Hussain held at the relevant time.

“In the year 2020, the convict was an elected people's representative. Meaning thereby, he was a leader of the people, whose words and actions would have had significant weight. By virtue of his position, in a communally charged environment, he had a responsibility to act towards maintenance of peace and harmony,” the Court said.

It added that Hussain was, therefore, expected to act as a restraining influence upon the people and not to facilitate their unlawful conduct.

“However, instead of discharging this responsibility, the convict has been found to have abetted the riots by providing his house, which was the highest point in the locality, as a place from where the rioters could attack people and damage property. Thus, a position which ought to have been used to prevent violence was, in the present case, found to have been used in a manner which facilitated it,” the Court said.

“It not only aggravates the seriousness of his conduct but also calls for a sentence which adequately reflects the gravity of the offence and serves the purpose of deterrence. I find that this circumstance weighs heavily against the convict while determining the appropriate sentence,” it added.

The judge also observed that absence of Hussain's physical participation in the rioting mob, by itself, cannot be treated as a mitigating circumstance so as to substantially reduce the gravity of his culpability.

“The mere fact that the prosecution did not prove the active participation of the convict in the riot, does not dilute the gravity of his conduct, for the hand that guides is as guilty, if not more, as the hand that acts,” the Court said.

Hussain was convicted for the offence punishable under Section 147 r/w Section 109 of IPC. However, he was acquitted of other charges.

The FIR was registered for the offences punishable under Section 147, 148, 149 (rioting), 427 (mischief and damage to property), 436 (mischief by fire) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code.

This is the second conviction of Tahir Hussain. The judge had convicted him for the murder of IB staffer Ankit Sharma during the riots. He has been sentenced to life imprisonment in that case.

The development ensued in FIR No. 120 of 2020 registered at Dayalpur police station.

The case was registered on the basis of a complaint by one Irshad Ali stating that his shop in which he worked was looted on 24th February, 2020.

It was alleged that the accused had broken open the shutter of the shop and had also set it on fire.

He alleged that he suffered a loss of around Rs.17 to 18 lakhs on account of articles robbed from the shop and loss of about Rs.10 lakhs due to damage to the building.

The second complainant Mohd. Zahid stated that the rioters were raising slogans in Hussain's name stating that they were with him.

During the course of investigation, two constables were able to identify Hussain as he was a public figure and they knew him previously.

Hussain was formally arrested on 21st April, 2020 in Mandoli Jail as he was already in judicial custody in another riots case. 

Tags: