New Delhi: Delhi’s Karkardooma Court on Friday delivered a significant verdict in the murder case of Intelligence Bureau (IB) employee Ankit Sharma, linked to the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots. The court sentenced former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and four others to life imprisonment.
The court said the incident “shocked the conscience of society”.
The judge, while pronouncing the sentence, described the crime as “extremely serious.” The court said the incident had forced society to reflect on the extent of brutality that can occur during communal violence.
The court said in its order that the murder was committed solely on religious grounds. “The manner of committing the crime was extremely barbaric and it was committed solely because of the religion of the victim.”
Referring to the brutality inflicted on the victim, the court said that Ankit Sharma’s body was dragged “like an animal” to the Chand Bagh culvert and then thrown into a drain. “The brutality committed is disgusting and disturbing,” the judge remarked.
5 convicts sentenced to life imprisonment
The court sentenced Tahir Hussain, Nazim, Qasim, Javed, and Anas to life imprisonment. They were convicted on July 13th on several charges, including murder, criminal conspiracy, and rioting. The Delhi Police had sought the death penalty for all five, arguing that the case fell into the “rarest of the rare” category.
Why did the court not order the death penalty?
But the court refused to impose the death penalty. The judge said the prosecution had failed to prove that the five men had violent temperaments or a habit of committing such crimes.
The court also noted that none of the convicts had any prior criminal records. It stated that these individuals could be disciplined and made to obey the law.
The judge said, “Although there is no legal bar on awarding death penalty, death penalty cannot be awarded merely for joining an unlawful assembly and murder. Certain special circumstances are required for that.”
What was the whole matter?
It is worth noting that Ankit Sharma, who worked for the IB, was murdered during the riots in Northeast Delhi in February 2020. His body was recovered a few days later from a drain near Khajuri Khas.
The condition of the body and the manner of the murder were so horrific that the case became one of the most high-profile cases related to the riots. The investigation revealed allegations that the riots were instigated from the rooftop of Tahir Hussain’s home and that the plot to murder Ankit Sharma was hatched there.
Following the court’s decision, the victim’s family said they had received some justice, but they would consider appealing the death penalty in the Supreme Court.