New Delhi, September 12
A court here has convicted AAP MLAs Akhilesh Pati Tripathi and Sanjeev Jha for being part of a mob that attacked policemen at the Burari police station in North Delhi in 2015.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Vaibhav Mehta also convicted 15 others in a case of rioting and causing hurt to police personnel at a police station.
Besides the MLAs, the court also convicted Balram Jha, Shyam Gopal Gupta, Kishore Kumar, Lalit Mishra, Jagdish Chandra Joshi, Narender Singh Rawat, Neeraj Pathak, Raju Malik, Ashok Kumar, Ravi Prakash Jha, Ismail Islam, Manoj Kumar, Vijay Pratap Singh, Heera Devi and Yashwant.
They were found guilty of offences under Sections 147 (rioting), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), and 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence commitshy;ted in the prosecution of common object) of the IPC.
The court will hear the case on the quantum of the sentence on September 21, where they may get a maximum three-year jail term.
“This court is of the view that the prosecution has been able to prove beyond doubt that the accused, Sanjeev Jha and Akhilesh Pati Tripathi, were part of the unlawful assemblyhellip; were part of the mob and indulged in sloganeering, provoked the crowd and encouraged them to get violent as a result of which they resorted to stone throwing, causing injuries to police officials,” the judge said in a 149-page judgment.
The judge also held that both lawmakers were also part of the unlawful assembly which had obstructed police officials from performing their duties.
According to the prosecution, the incident took place on the night of February 20, 2015, when a mob attacked police personnel at the Burari police station and damaged property.
The mob was demanding the custody of two men — allegedly to beat them up — arrested and brought to the police station. The police tried to pacify the crowd but the MLAs joined the mob and attacked them and resorted to stone throwing, the prosecutor told the court.
The judge held that the prosecution witnesses were “consistent” in their statements on the point of presence of the two legislators at the place of the incident and had indicated that they were not only “active participants but, in fact, leading the crowd”. — PTI
Sentencing on Sept 21
Delhi court will decide quantum of sentence on September 21; may get a maximum three-year jail term
Incident occurred on Feb 20, 2015, when a mob attacked cops at the police station and also damaged property
Mob was demanding custody of two men — allegedly to beat them up — arrested and brought to the police station
