NE Delhi riots: Court acquits man in vandalism case

Police arrested one Noor Mohammad, who was arrested in another riots case and later rearrested based on his own disclosure statement for allegedly vandalising and setting a bakery on fire in Khajuri Khas on February 25, 2020.

This is the third acquittal in a riots case.

While acquitting the accused, Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat dealt with the testimony of the beat officer, who claimed to have identified the accused as a rioter.

The court said Noor was not arrested in this case on the “identificatory statement” of the beat officer but rather was based on the disclosure statement of the accused.

It noted that the beat officer had not apprised any of his senior officers or fellow police officers about the fact that he had identified one of the rioters as Noor, and to arrest him. It further observed that this beat officer waited till March 31, 2020, to identify and arrest the accused despite him claiming to have told the station house officer and the investigating officer within 4-5 days of the incident that he can identify the rioters in this incident.

The court said that even if this beat officer could identify the accused, it was up to the IO to conduct a judicial test identification parade (TIP) involving this beat officer to identify the accused which has “intriguingly not been done”. The court said that the manner in which the beat officer stated that he identified the accused while he was being interrogated by the IO “appears to be absolutely doubtful and devoid of trustworthiness”.