Tahir Hussain convicted of abetment to rioting in 2020 Delhi riots case

A Delhi court has convicted former Aam Aadmi Party councillor Tahir Hussain of abetment to rioting during the February 2020 northeast Delhi violence, while acquitting 12 co-accused of all charges in the same case.

Additional Sessions Judge Praveen Singh, sitting at Karkardooma Courts, found Hussain guilty under Section 147 (rioting) read with Section 109 (abetment) of the Indian Penal Code. The court acquitted him of other charges, including criminal conspiracy, theft, and mischief by fire or explosives. Arguments on the quantum of sentence are scheduled for 16 November.

The judge acquitted all 12 co-accused in the case, identified as Mohammad Shadab, Shah Alam, Riyasat Ali, Gulfam, Rashid, Mohammad Rihan, Mohammad Abid, Arshad Qayyum, Irshad Ahmed, Deepak Singh Saini, Navneet, and Mehak Singh. They had all faced charges of rioting, destruction of property, and criminal conspiracy.

The case arises from FIR 120 of 2020, registered at Dayalpur police station following a complaint by local resident Irshad Ali. Ali told police that an armed mob broke open the shutter of his shop on 24 February 2020, looted merchandise valued between Rs 17 lakh and Rs 18 lakh, and set fire to the structure, causing a further Rs 10 lakh in structural damage. A second complainant, Mohammad Zahid, told investigators that rioters were shouting slogans in Hussain's name during the incident.

Two police constables later identified Hussain as being present, noting that they already knew him as a prominent local figure. Hussain was formally arrested in this case on 21 April 2020 while already held in Mandoli Jail under judicial custody for separate riot-related offences.

Saturday's judgment is the second conviction handed down against Hussain. In July, a Delhi court convicted him and four others in connection with the murder of Intelligence Bureau official Ankit Sharma, who was killed during the same wave of violence in Dayalpur. Hussain was sentenced to life imprisonment in that case after being found guilty of murder, rioting, assault, and promoting enmity between groups.

Aam Aadmi Party suspended Hussain in early 2020 shortly after police named him in multiple FIRs. The communal violence across northeast Delhi in late February 2020 resulted in 53 deaths, left hundreds injured, and caused extensive destruction to residential and commercial properties across the district.