India News | 2020 Delhi Riots: Court Refuses Tahir Hussain's Plea to Hear Arguments in 10 Cases Together
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. A court here on Thursday denied the plea of former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain to hear arguments on framing of charges together in 10 cases lodged against him concerning the 2020 Delhi riots.
New Delhi, Aug 18 (PTI) A court here on Thursday denied the plea of former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain to hear arguments on framing of charges together in 10 cases lodged against him concerning the 2020 Delhi riots.
Hussain has urged the court to hear the arguments on charge in all the ten cases together, claiming that more than one case was registered against him for the same incident and the same conspiracy.
Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala passed the order after noting the prosecution's submission that the timeline, dates, exact locations, and victims of the incidents were different.
The judge agreed with the prosecution's argument that there were separate sets of offences in each case and provided separate dates for the framing of charges.
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Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Madhukar Pandey said that all accused were not common across the FIRs, which were registered based on the statements of witnesses.
He also submitted the documents analysing the 10 FIRs concerning their timing and proximity to Tahir Hussain's location.
The FIRs were registered across various police stations in northeast Delhi under multiple offences, such as rioting, arson, murder, and attempt to murder under the IPC, and under the Prevention of Damage of Property (PDP) Act and Arms Act.
The court, meanwhile, adjourned the bail plea of Sohaib Alam, an accused named in one of the FIRs, after noting the submission of the prosecution that a timeline of the rioting incidents would be presented in the court.
Countering the argument for bail that there was a delay in the registration of FIR, SPP Amit Prasad said that the scale of the riots, including the number of incidents and engagement of police at various locations, had to be considered.
“There were some active rioters who joined the mob at different places. An accused who joined the mob at place X is also liable for incidents at place Y in the same vicinity, after considering the statements of witnesses,” Prasad said.
He further said that the investigating agency had to see the holistic picture and find whether a person was an active rioter or a curious onlooker.
Counsel for Sohaib Alam had said that the accused was not present at the location of the alleged incident.
The bail plea has been posted on August 25 for further hearing. PTI MNR UK
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)