Delhi Court Framed Against 7 Accused Of Killing Muslim Man Walking Back Home During 2020 Riots

Monish was on his way back after meeting his father, when he was beaten to death with sticks and & stones by a mob after his Muslim identity was established. 

Image Source: PTI

New Delhi: A court in Delhi has framed charges against seven men accused in the murder of a Muslim man during the northeast Delhi riots. The victim was walking back home after buying sweets. 

Monish was on his way back after meeting his father when he realized there was a riot when he reached the Yamuna bus stand. He was beaten to death with sticks and & stones by the mob after his Muslim identity was established. 

According to media reports, the Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Yadav has framed charges under Sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code read with Sections 149 (offence committed by any member of unlawful assembly in prosecution of common object) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC against Aman Kashyap, Arun Kumar, Ashish, Devender Kumar, Pradeep Rai, Krishan Kant Dhiman and Rahul Bhardwaj.

Though there was no CCTV or other video evidence of the assault, the charges were framed against the t seven accused based on an eyewitness account who said that he saw the victim being beaten up by the mob.

“I find substance in the submissions of Special PP that PW is not a “statue” who was merely lying stationary at one place and instead his bonafide cannot be doubted at this stage because he had duly made call to the PCR which is contemporaneous to the time of the commission of incident in the matter,” the order read according to the Indian Express. 

The communal clashes that broke out in northeast Delhi on February 24th, 2020 was between citizenship law supporters and protesters which then spiralled out of control leaving at least 53 people dead and around 700 injured.