NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Tuesday framed charges against six accused in three separate cases of murder during the communal violence here last year saying that there is prima facie enough material on record against them.
Through a common order, Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Yadav framed charges and explained it to all the accused persons, to which they pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.
"I am of the considered opinion that prima facie there is enough material on record to frame charges against the accused persons under requisite sections," he said.
The judge noted that even though there is no CCTV footage of the incident, a public witness not only gave a categorical account of the incidents but also identified all the accused namely Mohd Salman, Parvez, Ashraf Ali, Sonu Saifi, Javed Ali, and Arif.
The court said that the accused were in constant motion around the scene of the crime as per their call data record (CDR) but no plausible explanation has been given in this regard by their counsels.
The police said that the accused were undoubtedly part of the riotous mob which had committed brutal murders of three innocent persons, as they belonged to a different community.
As per Delhi Police, Veer Bhan received gunshot injuries in the head while traveling on a bike with his son, Dinesh got shot in the forehead and Alok Tiwari succumbed to brain injuries caused by a blunt object at Delhi's Shiv Vihar Tiraha in north east Delhi on February 25, 2020.
The accused have been charged under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 153-A (promoting disharmony, enmity, or feelings of hatred between different groups on the grounds of religion) of Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Charges have also been framed under sections 505 (statements conducing to public mischief), 302 (murder), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 34 (common intention) of the IPC and Arms Act.
Under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), an accused should be informed of the offence under which he is charged.
The basic purpose of the charge is to let them know of the offence that they are charged with so that they can prepare a defence.
Communal clashes had broken out in northeast Delhi in February 2020, after violence between the Citizenship (Amendment) Act supporters and its protesters spiraled out of control leaving at least 53 people dead and over 700 injured.