|HT|
A Delhi court has framed charges against Shahrukh Pathan, the man who had pointed a gun at a policeman during the deadly riots that rocked northeast Delhi last year, saying that it was not an ordinary case of an individual or a group committing an unlawful act.
Images of Pathan pointing a gun at Delhi police’s head constable Deepak Dahiya were widely circulated on social media. He was arrested on March 3, 2020 and is currently lodged in Tihar jail.
On Tuesday, additional sessions judge Amitabh Rawat charged Pathan with attempt to murder, assault, and obstructing public servants in the discharge of duty under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Arms Act.
The court also observed that it hadn’t witnessed riots of this nature since the deadly Sikh riots in 1984.
The court noted that there was a prohibitory order under section 144 of the CrPC issued by the DCP (Northeast) and there was a violation also of section 188 of the IPC.
The court also framed charges against Shamim and Abdul Shehzad, both co-accused, for being part of the rioters who were led by Pathan, saying they were rioting at the time of the gun-pointing incident.
The Delhi court noted that both the accused have been identified through CCTV footage and by witnesses.
The court also charged another accused, Ishtiyak Malik, saying that even if there was no footage showing him rioting, he cannot be absolved of the crime.
The judge said that he was in constant touch with Pathan, as evident from his call records, adding that his mobile phone location was the same as that of Pathan.
(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)