New Delhi: Former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor, Tahir Hussain, has moved the Delhi High Court challenging his conviction and life imprisonment in the murder case of Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer Ankit Sharma during the 2020 North-East Delhi riots.
Hussain’s appeal is likely to be listed for hearing before the Delhi High Court in the coming week.
The appeal comes after the Karkardooma Court sentenced Hussain and four other convicts — Javed, Anas, Nazim and Kasim — to life imprisonment for Sharma’s murder.
Earlier, convicts Nazim and Kasim had also approached the Delhi High Court challenging their conviction and sentence.
Their appeals were heard by a Division Bench of Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Vikas Mahajan. During the hearing, the Delhi Police told the High Court that it would also challenge the acquittal of six other accused in the case.
“The prosecution is also preferring an appeal. There are six accused who have been acquitted. We are in process,” Special Counsel Rajat Nair submitted before the Justice Singh-led Bench.
Taking note of the submission, the High Court issued notice to the Delhi Police on the appeals filed by Nazim and Kasim and posted their applications seeking suspension of sentence and bail for consideration on December 2.
The appeal challenges the judgment of the Karkardooma Court, which had convicted Hussain along with Javed, Anas, Nazim and Kasim for the killing of Sharma and subsequently sentenced all five to rigorous imprisonment for life.
Additional Sessions Judge Praveen Singh had held the five convicts guilty of offences including murder, kidnapping, disobedience of an order duly promulgated by a public servant, promoting enmity between different groups, rioting and rioting while armed with a deadly weapon.
The trial court had, however, acquitted all five accused of the charge of criminal conspiracy under Section 120B of the IPC. The court had also acquitted six other accused, holding that the prosecution had failed to establish their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
While pronouncing the sentence, the trial court had described the crime as a “very serious” incident and observed that Sharma was “brutally murdered” and his body was left “like an animal”, adding that the incident had “shaken the conscience of society”.
The Delhi Police had sought the death penalty for Hussain and the other convicts, describing Sharma’s killing as a “cold-blooded” and “brutal” murder and referring to the 51 injuries found on his body.
The defence had opposed the plea for capital punishment, arguing that the case did not fall within the “rarest of rare” category warranting the death sentence. The defence had also contended that there was no evidence establishing criminal conspiracy under Section 120B of the IPC and urged the court to consider the possibility of Hussain’s reformation.
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 in North-East Delhi.
According to the prosecution, Sharma was caught in the violence near his residence on February 25, 2020, when clashes broke out between two groups near Chand Bagh Pulia.
He was allegedly abducted by a mob, assaulted and stabbed multiple times before his body was dumped into a nearby drain.
An FIR was registered at the Dayalpur police station on the complaint of Sharma’s father, Ravinder Kumar, who alleged that his son had gone out to purchase household items but did not return. The communal violence that rocked North-East Delhi in February 2020 claimed 53 lives, left several others injured and caused extensive damage to property.
(IANS)
