New Delhi: Monday’s conviction of former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and four others for the murder of IB officer Ankit Sharma marks the first conviction for murder in the 2020 northeast Delhi riots cases even as dozens of other murder prosecutions continue to make their way through the courts.The riots broke out in Feb 2020. 53 people were killed, several others were injured and property worth crores was damaged.The verdict has brought renewed attention to the wait of families of the 52 others who were killed. More than 700 FIRs were registered for murder, rioting, conspiracy, arson and vandalism during the riots.The bulk of the murder trials, however, have ended in acquittals at trial courts. Most recently, on June 2, Judge Parveen Kumar Singh acquitted the accused in the alleged murder of a man named Anwar in Shiv Vihar, Karawal Nagar, questioning the credibility of the prosecution’s key witness. The court observed that his testimony was not very trustworthy “for a simple reason that it is very late that he appeared as witness”.In April, the court acquitted 12 accused in the murder of Musharraf at Johripur Pulia. The court found a “significant difference in their versions about where the deceased was beaten and how they observed the incident.”Till Hussain’s conviction, only one person was convicted in a riot-related murder case, under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), in 2024.Among the major murder prosecutions still pending is the case relating to the killing of Head Constable Ratan Lal, who died while deployed in Maujpur during the violence.Across several acquittals, the special riots courts have repeatedly criticised the quality of investigation, referring to “artificial” witnesses and allegedly “fabricated” evidence. In one such case, Judge Pulastya Pramachala acquitted 12 people accused of murdering Hashim Ali, holding that the prosecution had produced only “fragments and pieces of evidence” as circumstantial proof.With two courts designated to hear only riots-related cases, criminal trials have over the years been heard by judges Vinod Yadav, Virender Bhatt, Pulastya Pramachala and, at present, Additional Sessions Judge Singh. Charges have now been framed in all the murder cases.Meanwhile, Delhi BJP president Harsh Malhotra welcomed the verdict, and attacked Aam Aadmi Party alleging that it had “a strong bond with several anti national activists”. AAP, meanwhile, said Hussain had joined AIMIM and contested the 2025 Assembly polls against the party. “Within hours of an FIR being registered against him, AAP suspended him. Since then, he has had no association with AAP,” it said.
