Delhi HC upholds seven-year jail terms for five men over 2020 riots death

• Delhi High Court upheld the conviction and seven-year prison terms of five men over Mohsin’s death during the 2020 north-east Delhi riots

• The court cited eyewitness evidence placing the men at the front of an armed mob and urging others to attack

• It rejected the argument that failure to identify who inflicted the fatal injury entitled them to acquittal

The Delhi High Court has upheld the conviction and seven-year prison sentences of five men for the death of a 22-year-old man during the February 2020 communal riots in north-east Delhi.

Justice Madhu Jain dismissed appeals filed by Aman Kashyap, Devinder Kumar, Pradeep Rai, Ashish and Arun Kumar, finding that eyewitness evidence established their involvement in the armed mob that attacked Mohsin.

In its judgment delivered on 27 October, the court rejected the contention that the prosecution’s failure to identify the person who inflicted the fatal head injury warranted acquittal.

The evidence showed more than the appellants’ presence in a crowd, the court observed. A beat constable, examined as prosecution witness PW-10, identified all five at the front of the mob, urging others to assault Mohsin.

The court noted that the victim was chased, surrounded and attacked even after falling near police barricades. The appellants’ conduct, the weapons carried by members of the mob and the continued assault established an unlawful common object to attack him and cause bodily harm, it held.

The five men had argued that independent witnesses did not support the prosecution’s account and that the charges had not been proved beyond reasonable doubt.

Mohsin was assaulted near the Peer Baba Mazar in Chand Bagh on 25 February 2020, during the communal violence. He subsequently died from his injuries.

The trial court convicted the five men on 20 November 2024, under Sections 304 Part I and 148 of the Indian Penal Code, covering culpable homicide not amounting to murder and rioting while armed with a deadly weapon.

On 13 January 2025, it sentenced them to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 30,000.

The trial court had found that prosecution witness accounts established the five men’s participation in the armed mob that assaulted Mohsin.

With PTI inputs