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A section tribunal successful Delhi connected Friday (May 22, 2026) discharged 18 accused, including six who died during the trial, successful the 2007 Jamia Nagar riots lawsuit and criticised the “concocted” constabulary probe successful the 19-year-old incident.
In a 95-page order, Special Judge Vishal Gogne of the Rouse Avenue Court besides framed charges against 13 accused persons, including erstwhile Congress MLA Asif Mohammed Khan, holding that determination was capable worldly to proceed against those named successful the FIR.
The lawsuit relates to unit that took spot connected September 22, 2007, astatine the Jamia Nagar constabulary post, where, according to the prosecution, a assemblage that had gathered pursuing constabulary enactment to region marketplace encroachments during Ramzan turned convulsive and attacked constabulary personnel. The FIR alleged that the mob grew to astir 1,000–1,500 people, torched the constabulary post, damaged vehicles and looted constabulary property. A full of 36 radical were chargesheeted successful the case.
The tribunal held that the worldly connected grounds established a prima facie lawsuit of an unlawful assembly with the communal entity of attacking the constabulary station and causing wide violence. It noted that witnesser statements and circumstances surrounding the incidental created “grave suspicion” regarding the relation of definite accused persons.
The justice besides underlined the lack of a trial recognition parade (TIP) and said that it created important doubts astir the validity of the recognition of the accused done constabulary witnesses.
“In the contiguous investigation, it does measurement with the tribunal that not lone did the constabulary officials debar conducting a trial recognition parade of the 11 persons who were arrested astatine the recognition of astatine slightest 2 constabulary unit each; the investigating serviceman adjacent failed to see the anticipation of seeking apprehension upon recognition by 1 constabulary witnesser portion enabling TIP done the 2nd constabulary witness,” the tribunal said.
“Any mentation of the grounds and the circumstances successful which grounds has been collected oregon projected, which probabilise a high-handed and broad accusation of accused persons, would surely little the aspersion of culpability from sedate suspicion to specified suspicion. Such a imaginable entitles the accused to discharge,” the justice observed.
The tribunal said the apprehension of 2 much accused persons aboriginal was akin to that of the 11 arrested earlier, and that these arrests bore the “hallmarks of a contrived and pre-determined arrest”, which did not hap successful the mode asserted successful the chargesheet oregon done the statements of the constabulary witnesses.
The tribunal attached sizeable value to the information that the mob had dispersed aft the incidental and that the 13 accused were arrested lone the pursuing time from antithetic nationalist locations. It observed that the arrests were neither contiguous nor based connected immoderate exclusive cognition of the constabulary unit who aboriginal identified the accused. Given these circumstances, the justice said a TIP was indispensable and not simply a substance of prudence.
The tribunal directed that charges beryllium framed against 13 accused for offences including unlawful assembly, rioting, arson, dacoity, effort to murder, assault, obstruction of nationalist servants, and causing harm to nationalist property.
The bid besides noted that proceedings against 5 accused had abated earlier the commencement of the proceedings pursuing their deaths, portion 1 accused remained a proclaimed offender.
