Delhi court acquits five men accused of vandalising mosque during 2020 riots
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A Delhi court has acquitted five men accused of vandalising and setting fire to a mosque in Karawal Nagar during the 2020 North East Delhi riots, citing contradictory witness statements and inadmissible electronic evidence.
Additional Sessions Judge Parveen Singh of the Karkardooma Court, in an order dated October 31, said the prosecution had failed to establish the charges against the accused.
According to the prosecution, a mob set fire to Allah Wali Mosque and placed a statue on a slab outside it. The five accused were alleged to have been part of the mob involved in vandalism and arson on February 24 and 25, 2020. The prosecution examined 14 witnesses in the case.
The court found contradictions between the accounts of two police witnesses and an independent public witness regarding an incident at the mosque around 11 am on February 25.
The independent witness said the mosque had been vandalised only once, around 8.15 pm on February 24. He also testified that he remained inside his house for four days after the incident. His house was directly opposite the mosque.
The judge said the witness would have seen and testified about any second incident at the mosque. The court therefore found the accounts of the two police witnesses unreliable and said there was a possibility that no vandalism or arson had occurred at the mosque on the morning of February 25.
The court also rejected DVDs submitted as evidence by the Forensic Science Laboratory, noting that they lacked a valid certificate under Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act.
Citing Supreme Court judgments in Arjun Panditrao Khotkar v. Kailash Kushanrao Gorantyal and Anvar P.V. v. P.K. Basheer, the court held that the electronic evidence was inadmissible.