Delhi Riots: High Court Quashes FIR Against Tahir Hussain, Orders Chargesheet To Be Treated As Supplementary Chargesheet In Similar FIR

The Delhi High Court has recently quashed an FIR registered against former Aam Aadmi Party Councillor Tahir Hussain in connection with the North-East Delhi riots of 2020.Justice Subramonium Prasad directed that the chargesheet in the FIR in question [FIR 116 of 2020] be treated as a supplementary chargesheet in another case [FIR 101 of 2020] which was registered on the same incident, involving common witnesses in both cases. “A perusal of the material on record shows that there are about 9 common eye-witnesses in both the FIRs and 23 witnesses are common in both the FIRs and, therefore, no prejudice would be caused to the witnesses/victims if charge-sheet in FIR No.116/2020 is taken as a supplementary charge-sheet in FIR No.101/2020 and the trial can proceed accordingly,” the Court said. While quashing the FIR, the Court said that it cannot ignore the fact that trial has started in both the cases and the victims in both the FIRs are different and quashing of FIR 116 of 2020 will cause injustice to the victims in the said FIR. “The mistake of the Prosecution in filing two FIRs for an incident which has occurred in the same building cannot result in injustice to the victims in FIR No.116/2020, who will have no remedy in law if FIR No.116/2020 is quashed,” the Court observed. FIR 116 of 2020 was registered at Khajuri Khas police station. It was registered by the Delhi Police for the offences under Sections 109, 114, 147, 148, 149, 153, 323, 392, 395, 427, 436, 454, 505, 120B and 34 of Indian Penal Code and Sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act. The FIR was registered at the instance of complainant- Tejveer Singh alleging that on February 24, 2020, a large mob was present on the roof of Tahir Hussain's house as well as around the area and was pelting stones and petrol bombs on the passerbys. As per the FIR, few of the individuals broke open the shutter of the parking lot of a banquet hall and robbed the inmates. It was alleged that the mob burnt one of the parked vehicles and broke Singh's motor cycle, amongst other damage and theft.On the other hand, FIR No. 101/2020 was registered on the complaint of Constable Sangram Singh. The case was registered on the same incident. Tahir Hussain filed the plea seeking quashing of FIR 116 of 2020 on the ground that another FIR was registered pertaining to the same incident. Disposing of his plea, Justice Prasad said that the Court made no observations on the merits of the case and that it is for the Trial Court to decide the same in accordance with law.Counsel for Petitioner: Ms. Tara Narula, Ms. Shivangi Sharma, Mr. Anirudh Ramanathan, Mr. Rishabh Bhati, Mr. Harshvardhan Jain, AdvocatesCounsel for Respondents: Mr. Madhukar Pandey, SPP with Mr. Aviral Bansal, AdvocateTitle: TAHIR HUSSAIN v. STATE OF NCT DELHI & ANR.Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Del) 1321Click here to read order

Delhi Riots: High Court Quashes FIR Against Tahir Hussain, Orders Chargesheet To Be Treated As Supplementary Chargesheet In Similar FIR

Nupur Thapliyal

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