A Delhi Court Monday discharged two persons accused of attempt to murder (Section 307 IPC) in the Delhi riots case after the police failed to show that it had even seen the victim of the gunshot wound allegedly caused by the duo.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Amitabh Rawat said there was nothing to charge accused Babu and Imran with under the IPC for the attempt to murder or under the Arms Act.
The prosecution alleged that the duo had caused the death of one Rahul, who had suffered a gunshot injury.
The court pointed out that Rahul’s statement was not on record. Besides, the police had, after a long investigation, concluded that Rahul, who is alleged to have been shot by the mob/rioters comprising the accused, had given a wrong address and an incorrect mobile phone number in his Medico Legal Case (MLC).
“So by the time, police arrived at the hospital, the alleged victim Rahul had vanished. It is not as if Rahul gave any initial statement and then vanished. The state is categorical in saying that the police never saw Rahul”, the court said.
It went on to state that the alleged victim had never been seen by the police, nor had he given any statement about any gunshot injury or about any mob/rioters. “So how is Section 307 IPC made out against the accused persons when the victim is absent from even the police investigation. How is the gunshot injury established? There is no murmur of that,” the court said.
“With nothing in the chargesheet to dig in, no case under Section 307 IPC is made out and there is no ground for presuming that these two accused persons have committed the offence of attempt to murder as defined under Section 307 IPC”, the court held.
Quoting Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, the court said:
“From a hundred rabbits you can’t make a horse, a hundred suspicion don’t make a proof.”
The court, however, found a prima facie case and sufficient grounds for presuming that both accused persons have committed the offence under Section 143/144/147/148 IPC of being part of unlawful assembly, armed with weapons and rioting on 25.02.2020 at Maujpur Red Light.
It, thus, transferred the matter back to the concerned designated magisterial court.
Read the Order
http://theleaflet.in/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Delhi-Court-Order_Delhi-Riots-case.pdf
