Court discharges 10 accused from the offence of destroying house by fire

New Delhi: A court here has discharged 10 accused from the offence of allegedly destroying house by fire in a case related to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots.

The court, however, said that they will face charges for rioting.

The court was hearing a case where the accused persons allegedly engaged in rioting and torched the complainant’s vehicle parked on a road in the Maujpur area on the morning of February 25, 2020.

Noting that the charge for the offence of mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house was not made out as the complainant's vehicle was allegedly burnt on the public road, Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat transferred back the case only for the offence of rioting to the magisterial court concerned.

The case was transferred to the magisterial court as the maximum punishment for the offences for which the accused would face prosecution is less than seven years of imprisonment.

“Thus, I am of the opinion that there is ground for presuming that the accused persons have committed the offence but not exclusively triable by the court of sessions,” the judge said in an order dated September 28.

Jafrabad police station had registered an FIR against the 10 accused persons, Md. Saleem, Mehrajuddin, Shoaib, Haji Islam, Anish Malik, Arif Saifi, Shanu Malik, Bobby, Furkan and Md. Salman under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, including rioting.