New Delhi, 28 October (H.S.): The Delhi High Court has upheld a trial court’s order sentencing five men to seven years’ imprisonment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder in connection with the death of a 22-year-old man during the 2020 Delhi riots. Justice Madhu Jain dismissed the appeals filed by the convicts challenging their sentences.

The High Court rejected the appeals filed by Aman Kashyap, Devendra Kumar, Pradeep Rai, Ashish alias Goli, and Arun Kumar. It observed that the evidence indicated that the appellants were not merely present in the mob but had played a more active role in the incident.

The five men had been convicted by the Karkardooma Court under Sections 148 and 304 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The case relates to a First Information Report (FIR) registered at Dayalpur police station. On February 25, 2020, a man identified as Monish was allegedly chased and assaulted by a mob near Brijpuri during the Delhi riots. He subsequently died in hospital.

Challenging their convictions, the appellants argued that the prosecution’s case suffered from several shortcomings. These included alleged contradictions in eyewitness accounts, delays in recording statements of police witnesses and the failure to conduct a Test Identification Parade (TIP).

Rejecting these arguments, the High Court relied on the testimony of a police constable who identified all five men. The constable stated that they were at the forefront of the armed mob and had allegedly instigated others to attack Monish.

The court also considered the statements of other police personnel, who described the sequence of events involving the pursuit and assault before the injured man was rescued.

The High Court held that the failure to conduct a Test Identification Parade did not automatically render identification evidence inadmissible or unreliable. On the basis of the evidence on record, it declined to interfere with the trial court’s findings and upheld the seven-year prison sentences imposed on all five convicts.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar