‘Witness may have been tutored’: Delhi court acquits man in 2020 riots case

The court also noted some discrepancies in the account of the witness. While the prosecution held that the accused was arrested in July 2020, the witness had said that he saw the accused at the police station in March 2020.

The case pertains to an FIR lodged in March 2020 at Karawal Nagar Police Station where two complainants, Afsar and Mohd. Ashfaq, alleged that their properties in adjacent streets in Karawal Nagar were vandalised, robbed, and set on fire by a mob. Complainant Afsar had alleged that his family was attacked by a mob of around 60 persons and that they had entered his house by breaking the doors open. He further alleged that items worth Rs 70,000 were looted from the house.

The accused, Praveen Giri, was arrested based on CCTV footage from a camera situated within 50 metres of the scene of the crime.

Delhi Police had earlier said that 231 persons accused in the Delhi riots had been arrested on the basis of CCTV footage. Over 750 FIRs were filed related to the riots.

However, almost four years after the riots, judgments have been passed in just over 70 cases, 80% of which have ended in acquittals. Just over half the crime cases have been chargesheeted with the courts pulling up Delhi Police for “half-baked chargesheets”, “manipulated evidence”, and “artificial cases”.