Recently, Delhi court while dealing with a case connected to the February 2020 Delhi Riots has discharged three individuals who were facing charges of rioting, criminal conspiracy, and other offenses.

The single-headed bench of Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala criticized the Delhi Police for submitting chargesheets in a manner that seemed "predetermined, mechanical, and erroneous."

Due to this observation, the court decided to discharge Akil Ahmad, Rahis Khan, and Irshad, who were previously charged with various offenses under Sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with a deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly with a common object), 188 (disobedience to public order), 436 (mischief by fire), 120B (criminal conspiracy), and others as per the Indian Penal Code.

"It is worth to mention here that this order of discharge is being passed on account of realizing that the reported incidents were not properly and completely investigated and that the chargesheets were filed in predetermined, mechanical and erroneous manner, with subsequent actions to only cover up the initial wrong actions," 

The case was referred back to the police department for a reevaluation of the investigation conducted in this matter, followed by appropriate actions in accordance with the law.

According to the prosecution, a mob had engaged in acts of vandalism and arson near Victoria Public School in North-East Delhi. The police alleged that the accused were part of this mob, which was equipped with stones, rods, and sticks and had blocked roads in the vicinity.

The court identified contradictory statements made by the complainants involved in the case and highlighted that the investigating officers had overlooked the fact that there were both pro and anti-Citizenship Amendment Act/National Register of Citizens slogans being chanted by different mobs.

“This fact is very important to realise that they were two different and rival mobs. IOs remained silent over the question as to which particular incident was caused by a particular mob," it stated.

"If several incidents took place in and around Victoria Public School at the hands of riotous mob, the job of IO was to ascertain the composition of such mob during each of such incidents. If a person ceases to be member of an unlawful assembly, then he cannot be made responsible for any act done by that mob in absence of such person.” 

The court, instead of suspecting the accused persons for their involvement in the alleged incidents, suspected that the IO manipulated the evidence in the case, without actually investigating the reported incidents properly.