This is an archive article published on December 9, 2015
AAP MLA Akhilesh Tripathi acquitted after complainant turned hostile: Court
The court has also said that the “formal witnesses” were not eyewitnesses of the alleged rioting, and had not
actually seen the “accused persons forming unlawful assembly”.
AAP MLA Akhilesh Tripathi and four others were acquitted of rioting, unlawful assembly and other charges by a Delhi court due to the prosecution witnesses “turning hostile” in the 2013 case.
While acquitting Model Town MLA Tripathi and four others, Metropolitan Magistrate Kapil Kumar said, “By virtue of testimony of PW (prosecution witness)-1 to PW-3, who turned hostile in toto, the case of prosecution stands not proved. None of the allegations of the prosecution stands proved on record. All avernments of prosecution were categorically denied by PW-1 to PW-3 who were examined as eyewitnesses of the present case. Prosecution miserably failed to discharge its burden of proof.”
The court has also said that the “formal witnesses” were not eyewitnesses of the alleged rioting, and had not
actually seen the “accused persons forming unlawful assembly”.
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“The other witnesses examined in the present case are formal witnesses, being the witnesses of investigation or preparing formal documents. None of them is the eyewitness of the present case. None of them deposed that they had seen accused persons forming unlawful assembly or beating the complainant and other injured persons,” the court said.
The acquittal orders came after the main complainant Bitto Jha was declared hostile during cross-examination. Jha, turning hostile, deposed before that court that “he did not give any complaint to the police” regarding the case.
“He denied the suggestion that all the accused persons started beating him with a danda. He denied the suggestion that he is deposing falsely as won over by accused persons,” said the court, about Jha’s cross-examination by prosecution.
Police had chargesheeted Tripathi, along with four other accused – Vikas, Kanhaahiya, Inder, Vikram and Rahul – on charges of rioting, rioting armed with a deadly weapon, unlawful assembly, criminal intimidation and for obstructing a public servant in discharge of public functions, under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
Kaunain Sheriff M is an award-winning investigative journalist and the National Health Editor at The Indian Express. He is the author of Johnson & Johnson Files: The Indian Secrets of a Global Giant, an investigation into one of the world’s most powerful pharmaceutical companies.
With over a decade of experience, Kaunain brings deep expertise in three areas of investigative journalism: law, health, and data. He currently leads The Indian Express newsroom’s in-depth coverage of health.
His work has earned some of the most prestigious honours in journalism, including the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Award, and the Mumbai Press Club’s Red Ink Award.
Kaunain has also collaborated on major global investigations. He was part of the Implant Files project with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which exposed malpractices in the medical device industry across the world. He also contributed to an international investigation that uncovered how a Chinese big-data firm was monitoring thousands of prominent Indian individuals and institutions in real time.
Over the years, he has reported on several high-profile criminal trials, including the Hashimpura massacre, the 2G spectrum scam, and the coal block allocation case. Within The Indian Express, he has been honoured three times with the Indian Express Excellence Award for his investigations—on the anti-Sikh riots, the Vyapam exam scam, and the abuse of the National Security Act in Uttar Pradesh. ... Read More
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