The Delhi High Court has quashed an FIR against former AAP Councillor Tahir Hussain related to the February 2020 northeast Delhi violence, citing the existence of a similar case against him. 

Justice Subramonium Prasad noted that a prior FIR had already been registered for the same incident on February 24, 2020. The court directed that the chargesheet filed in the quashed FIR be treated as a supplementary chargesheet in the earlier case.

The quashed FIR, registered on February 27, 2020, was based on a complaint by the aggrieved party alleging offences such as rioting and mischief on the first floor of a building under the IPC and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act. The earlier FIR, filed on February 25, 2020, stemmed from a policeman’s complaint about similar offences on the ground floor.

"A perusal of the two FIRs show that the rioters first broke open the shutters of Pradeep Parking & set fire to the vehicles parked there & then they went to the first floor of the building in question where food was being prepared for the marriage ceremony. It is stated that the rioters set fire to the goods & destroyed the items which were present on the first floor of the building in question... both the incidents are a part of the same incident," the court said on November 26.

The court observed that the trial had already commenced in both cases and noted that completely quashing the subsequent FIR could lead to injustice for the victims involved, as they were different in each case. 

Highlighting that there were about nine common eyewitnesses and 23 other shared witnesses in both FIRs, the court stated that no prejudice would be caused if the chargesheet from the subsequent FIR was treated as part of the first FIR. This approach would allow the trial to proceed seamlessly under the consolidated framework.

"The mistake of the prosecution in filing two FIRs for an incident which has occurred in the same building cannot result in injustice to the victims in FIR 116/2020, who will have no remedy in law if FIR 116/2020 is quashed," the court stated.

"In view of the above, this court is inclined to quash FIR 116/2020, dated February 27, 2020, registered at Police Station Khajuri Khas, with a direction that the chargesheet in FIR 116/2020 be treated as a supplementary chargesheet in FIR 101/2020," ordered the court.