The Karkardooma court on Tuesday passed the first judgement in connection with the February 2020 northeast Delhi riots cases, acquitting an accused Suresh Bhatura over allegations of rioting, unlawful assembly and dacoity.
Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat, in his judgement, said that accused Suresh Bhatura is acquitted of all the offences punishable under Section 143/147/427/454 IPC read with Section 149 IPC & Section 395 IPC. He may be released immediately, if not wanted in any other case, he added. The court said that the testimony of witnesses was contradictory and identification of the accused was not possible. This was a “clear cut case of acquittal”.
As per the prosecution, accused Suresh alias Bhatura was part of the unlawful assembly which was armed with lathis and “sariyas” (rods) and committed rioting and they broke open the shutter lock of the shop of the complainant Asif, owned by Bhagat Singh. The court on March 9, 2021, had ordered to frame charges against accused Suresh under Section 454 of Indian Penal Code (house trespass), Section 395 of IPC (dacoity) and other various offences dealing with unlawful assembly.