The court acquitted ten people of charges of arson in shops during the Delhi riots. These accused were accused of looting and arson in shops. The court said that the police were trying to hide its flaws. The police had clubbed the events of two days together. The case was registered on the basis of three complaints. In a complaint, Brijpal had said that his rented shop on Brijpuri Road was looted by rioters on February 25. In another complaint, Diwan Singh said that two of his shops were looted on February 24.
Additional Sessions Judge, Karkardooma Court, Vinod Yadav, while dropping the charge of arson. Observed that the complainants in their initial statements did not utter a word regarding the arson in the shops. Diwan Singh, however, said in a supplementary statement that rioters had set his shop on fire. To this, the court said that the police cannot hide its flaw by taking a supplementary statement if the initial statement does not mention arson.
The court further said that the allegation of arson cannot be framed on the basis of the statements of the policemen who were working as beat officers in that area on the day of the incident. Judge Vinod Yadav said that they are unable to understand how the February 24 case can be mixed with the February 25 case, unless the people who committed the offenses in both cases were identical. He said that after considering the above facts. He is of the view that on the basis of the material presented in the case. No case of arson is made out against the accused.
The court said other charges like rioting, rioting with weapons, illegal gathering of a mob, disobedience to a government order, assault, mischief, unauthorized entry, creating enmity between two communities and making threats, etc. are maintainable before the Metropolitan Magistrate. Therefore, the case is being sent there for the hearing. In this case, Mohammad Shahnawaz, Mohammad Shoaib, Shahrukh, Rashid, Azad, Ashraf Ali, Parvez, Mohammad Faizal, Rashid, Mohammad Tahir are the ten accused.
