India

Former AAP Councillor Tahir Hussain Convicted for Abetment of Rioting in 2020 Delhi Riots Case

By HT News Desk

A Delhi court on Saturday convicted former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain for abetment of rioting in a case related to arson in the Dayalpur area of northeast Delhi during the 2020 riots. The conviction was delivered by Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai of the Karkardooma Courts. The court acquitted 12 other co‑accused of all other charges. The FIR was registered under Sections 147, 148 and 149 (rioting), 427 (mischief causing damage to property), 436 (mischief by fire) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, according to LiveLaw. This is the second conviction of Tahir Hussain. He had previously been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma, who was killed during the 2020 Delhi riots. In that case, the court noted that while the crime was brutal and the victim was killed by a murderous mob, the prosecution had failed to establish that the convicts were beyond reform or that their release after serving their sentences would pose a threat to society. Special Public Prosecutor Madhukar Pandey had argued that Sharma had been abducted and brutally assaulted, sustaining 51 injuries, 18 of them inflicted with sharp‑edged weapons. He said, “Ankit Sharma was abducted and relentlessly assaulted in a hapless manner. A total of 51 injuries were made upon the victim and 18 of them were through sharp‑edged weapons. It is not a case where somebody was stabbed once or thrice.” The prosecutor added that the accused continued to assault Sharma even after his death and that they should be kept behind bars and given the death sentence.