‘Guided By Communal Feelings, Wanted To Cause Maximum Damage To Hindu Community’: Nine Convicted For Burning Hindu Family’s House During 2020 Riots In New Delhi

A sessions judge in New Delhi this week convicted nine people for looting and burning the house of a Hindu family amid the 2020 communal riots between Hindus and Muslims.

The court said that the men were guided by communal feelings and their aim was to cause maximum damage to people of the Hindu community.

The woman, Rekha Sharma, is a resident of Shiv Vihar Tiraha in the northeast district of the capital city. She accused unidentified men of setting her house on fire in the night when her family had shifted to a safer location to escape violence.

Notably, the riots began on the night of 23 February 2020 in northeast Delhi and went on for three days.

She gave a complaint on 29 February 2020 at Gokulpuri police saying that on the afternoon of 24 February, she saw stone-pelting in her colony. A group was trying to break open into her house. She locked the gate and called up her husband, who was at work. 

When he returned home, he took her to a safer location for the night. The same night, a mob barged into the house after breaking open the lock. They looted the goods kept in the house, damaged the floor and set on fire a room on the upper floor. 

Her house suffered additional damage due to a fire in an adjacent godown, lit by rioters.

An FIR (number 53/2020) was filed at the police station based on her complaint. The police identified the accused after interrogating locals, checking CCTV footage and going through call details.

The convicted are Mohammed Shahnawaz alias Shanu, Mohammed Shoaib alias Chhutwa, Mohammed Shahrukh, Mohammed Rashid alias Raja, Mohammed Azad, Mohammed Ashraf Ali, Mohammed Parvez, Mohammed Faisal and Mohammed Rashid alias Monu.

The court also relied on testimony of 11 people including Rekha and two policemen.

The court has directed all nine to be taken into judicial custody and has fixed 29 March as the date of arguments on their sentencing. Three of the nine convicts are already in jail while six others are out on bail.

The judge observed, “I find it well established that all the named accused persons in this case did become part of an unruly mob, which was guided by communal feelings and was having a common object to cause maximum damage to the properties of persons belonging to Hindu community.”

Readers may access the court order here.

The Delhi police have reportedly filed more than 400 chargesheets in connection with the 2020 riots, which left more than 50 dead and more than 500 injured. 

A total of 758 FIRs were filed after the riots. 

As per a report by The Times of India published on 24 February 2023, 14 people had been convicted for the riots by that time.