A Delhi court has framed charges against the two accused for burning a school and other properties including vehicles belonging to Hindus in northeast Delhi’s Dayalpur in February 2020.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Pulastya Pramachala of the Karkardooma Court observed, “In pursuance to their common object, they attacked and forcibly entered into Arun Modern Public Senior Secondary School with common object to cause maximum damage… this school was chosen because it belonged to Hindu and the common object of the aforesaid mob was to cause damage to the properties of Hindus.”
The court noted the mob rioted and set afire the school’s computer lab and library as well as vehicles.
The police upon arriving saw the school had been vandalised and vehicles set on fire by the mob on February 25, 2020. Subsequently, a complaint was made by Principal Jyoti Rani on February 26 that 150-200 people forcibly entered the school and vandalised various articles on the premises along with the vehicles parked on the campus.
Rani also alleged that the rioters set the vehicles and other items such as generators, cupboards, documents, computer systems, the chemistry lab, library and furniture. She also said the school incurred a total loss of Rs 1 to 1.24 crore.
Thus, a case was registered against Shamim Ahmad, Mohammad Kafil@Kapil and Faizan at Dayalpur police station. Out of the three, Faizan has been declared a proclaimed offender (PO) by the court.
After investigation, the first charge sheet was filed in June 2020 before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM). The court took cognizance of the offences under Sections 147, 148, 149, 427, 435, 436, and 120B of the Indian Penal Code.
During the hearing, the counsel for the accused challenged the case and argued that the police officers and other witnesses were planted and that there were discrepancies in the complaint and the FIR filed by the police.
On the contrary, Special Public Prosecutor appearing for the Delhi Police submitted that there are no inconsistencies in the FIR and the complaint. He also stated the issue of planting any witness cannot be considered at this stage as there is sufficient evidence to frame charges for alleged offences.
While discharging the accused of criminal conspiracy, the court said since the allegations of conspiracy are based on presumption rather than any concrete evidence, it is not sufficient to presume that the accused acted out of pre-hatched conspiracy.
The court ordered that Shamim Ahmed and Mohammad Kafil @Kapil are liable to be tried for offence under Section 149 IPC and Section 188 IPC.
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