New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday welcomed the life imprisonment awarded to former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain, saying that the verdict has “reinforced faith in justice”.
A Delhi court on Friday sentenced Hussain and four others for the alleged murder of Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer Ankit Sharma, who was killed during the 2020 North-East Delhi riots.
Speaking to IANS, BJP MP Manoj Tiwari said: “Today’s verdict has reinforced our faith in justice. The person who was the mastermind of the Delhi riots, who was then an Aam Aadmi Party councillor, has been sentenced to life imprisonment along with his associates…Justice has prevailed.”
Delhi Minister Ashish Sood added: “Today is a very important day in the history of Delhi because it is a day of shame for those who called themselves the owners of Delhi, i.e. (AAP convener) Arvind Kejriwal ji, and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh.”
“These people (AAP leaders) tried to cover up the murder of an innocent young man. They tried to do it for vote bank politics. They prepared Tahir Hussain for riots and even tried to save him,” he alleged.
Terming the decision as the “beginning of justice,” Delhi Minister Kapil Mishra said: “During the Delhi riots, roads were blocked from all sides as part of a conspiracy to massacre Hindus under the garb of Shaheen Bagh. Tahir Hussain played a major role in that conspiracy.”
Mishra accused Hussain of stockpiling “bombs and stones” and allowing hundreds of rioters to “gather on his rooftop”.
“Innocent IB officer Ankit Sharma was taken into Tahir Hussain’s house, stabbed multiple times, despite his death. When this case is taken to the higher court, we will appeal for the life imprisonment sentence to be converted into the death penalty,” he told IANS.
Meanwhile, VHP National Spokesperson Vinod Bansal remarked that Tahir Hussain’s rooftop had become a “launch pad” against Hindus.
“Steps should be taken so that such incidents don’t get repeated,” he said.
The case relates to the killing of IB officer Ankit Sharma, whose body was recovered from a drain in the Khajuri Khas area on February 26, 2020, during the communal violence that rocked North-East Delhi.
(IANS)
