2020 Delhi riots: Court finds witness testimony 'unsafe' to convict 13 accused

A Delhi court has acquitted 13 people accused in a 2020 northeast Delhi riots case, stating that the testimony of the key prosecution witness was unreliable. Additional Sessions Judge Parveen Singh noted that the CCTV footage used for identification was too poor to establish the identity of the accused.

"Considering the fact that this witness had suddenly become an eyewitness and in view of the above discussion that the testimony of PW8 as an eyewitness is under a shadow of doubt, it will be unsafe to rely upon the testimony of PW8," the court stated in its order. The case involved an incident on February 25, 2020, where Raman Chauhan was allegedly attacked.

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Considering the fact that this witness had suddenly become an eyewitness and in view of the above discussion that the testimony of PW8 as an eyewitness is under a shadow of doubt, it will be unsafe to rely upon the testimony of PW8.

Chauhan had initially told the court he could not identify his attackers. The prosecution witness had also initially stated during the investigation that he had not witnessed the incident but later appeared in court as an eyewitness. The court found these material improvements made his testimony unsafe to rely upon. The CCTV footage was described as black-and-white, dark, and grainy, with the FSL unable to provide an opinion on facial identification due to poor pixel resolution.

The court further observed that the recovery of weapons alone could not establish a criminal conspiracy, as there was no evidence detailing when, where, or how the conspiracy was formed or who joined it. Additionally, the prosecution failed to establish the mandatory procedure for proclamation proceedings against several accused charged under Section 174A of the IPC. Consequently, all accused were acquitted of the charges.

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In view of the above discussion, all the accused are accordingly acquitted of all the charges framed against them.