Delhi riots: Muslims turned violent allegedly on provocation of Tahir Hussain, says court
New Delhi: Muslims turned violent allegedly on suspended AAP Councillor Tahir Hussain's provocation and started pelting stones on the Hindu community, a Delhi court said on Friday while taking cognisance of the charge sheet filed against him for IB official Ankit Sharma's murder during the communal violence in northeast Delhi in February.
The court was however informed that the police has not yet obtained sanction against Hussain and other co-accused in the case from the authorities concerned as required in a sedition case.
Metropolitan Magistrate Purushottam Pathak said that since there is no time frame for obtaining sanction and any delay in proceeding further in the matter will unnecessarily defeat the purpose for which the special courts for trial of the riot cases have been created, the court deems it fit to take cognisance of all the other offences.
"I am of the opinion that there is sufficient material on record to take cognisance of the offences alleged to have been committed by accused persons," the judge said in his order.
"IO (investigating officer) has informed that in the present case a letter has been sent to the Competent Authority on June 22 but it was not clear as to how much time it will take for obtaining sanction," the order said.
"In this scenario when there is no time frame for obtaining sanction and that any delay in proceeding further in the matter will unnecessarily defeat the purpose for which the special courts for trial of riots cases have been created, I deem it fit to take cognisance of all the offences," it added.
The court directed all the accused to be produced before it on August 28 through video conferencing for further hearing in the case.
It said riots took place in a "planned manner" resulting from a "well hatched conspiracy" and it was allegedly abetted by the leader of the mob, accused Tahir Hussain and other co-accused also acted upon.
"Accused Tahir Hussain also facilitated them to the rooftop of his building and provided other logistics support with a view that a large scale riots may be there causing the resultant loss to life and the property of the other community.
"Prima facie the accused Tahir Hussain was leading the mob from his house and also from the Masjid near Chand Bagh Pulia on February 24 and 25 and he was instrumental for gathering of the unlawful assembly in conspiracy with accused persons namely Hasee, Nazim, Kasim, Sameer Khan, Anas, Firoj, Jaed, Gulfam and Shoaib Alam, having common intention and unlawful object," the court said.
It further said Hussain allegedly provoked and instigated his community, promoting enmity on the grounds of religion between Hindus and Muslims claiming that Hindu people have killed a number of Muslims, set their shops on fire at Sherpur Chowk and they should not let any Hindus go scot free.
"On his (Hussain's) provocation/instigation, the Muslims turned violent and became volatile on February 24 and 25 and started burning shops and pelting stones and petrol bombs on Hindu community and also targeted their houses situated in that locality.
"Thereupon, the uncontrolled mob turned into rioters and in process of rioting caught hold of Ankit Sharma and dragged him to Chand Bagh Pulia and caused his death by inflicting multiple injuries using sharp and blunt objects/weapons in a brutal manner and with a view to conceal the evidence, all of them in furtherance of their common intention, threw his dead body in the drain," it said.
In the 50-page charge sheet, Hussain has been named as one of the main accused along with nine others -- Anas, Firoj, Javed, Gulfam, Shoaib Alam, Salman, Nazeem, Kasim, Sameer Khan for the murder of Sharma.
All the accused are in jail charged with various offences for the killing of Sharma by around 20-25 rioters who were equipped with stones, rod, lathi, knife etc.
The charge sheet said they came from the side of Chand Bagh Pulia, caught hold of him on the instigation of Hussain from the political leader's house and dragged him, beat him to death and threw his body in the drain.
His body was fished out the next morning.
The autopsy revealed that there were 51 sharp injuries on his body, the charge sheet said, adding that the way Sharma was killed by the cold blooded rioters has shaken the social fabric of the society and instilled a fear in the minds of the residents of the area.
The judge said: "I hereby take cognisance of offence under section 109 (abetment), 114 (abettor present when offence in committed) of Indian Penal Code alleged to have been committed by accused Tahir Hussain.
"Further, I also take cognisance of the offence pounsihable under section 147 and 148 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house etc), 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person), 302 (murder), 201 (destruction of evidence), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) alleged to have been committed by accused Tahir Hussain, Haseen, Nazim, Kasim, Sameer Khan, Anas, Firoz, Javed, Gulfam and Shoaib Alam and sections of Arms Act against accused Haseen and Nazim."
The offences entail a maximum punishment of death penalty.
Communal clashes had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24 after violence between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled out of control leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured.
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Huge turnout amidst SIR shadow caps ballistic battle for Bengal
Kolkata (PTI): The West Bengal assembly polls ended on Wednesday with what the election watchdog said was the state's highest-ever voter turnout of 92.84 per cent, leading to mouth-watering anticipation ahead of the announcement of results on Monday as both contenders sounded sanguine about their victory prospects.
Wednesday's second phase saw a 92.48 per cent turnout. The concluding phase covering 142 constituencies in south Bengal appears poised to match the first phase's record voter participation of 93.19 per cent by the time final numbers are collated.
The figures put the combined poll percentage over the two-phases at 92.84 per cent. The first phase of polling was held on April 23.
"This is the highest-ever recorded poll participation since Independence in West Bengal," it said.
The capital Kolkata recorded a turnout of 88.59 per cent, with Purba Bardhaman district topping the charts at 93.78 per cent.
The scale of participation sent out an overarching political message — practically every single eligible voter in the state felt personally invested in the electoral process and its outcome. They turned out in numbers large enough to make every narrative contested and every claim of momentum politically loaded. If the first phase tested whether the BJP could retain its north Bengal citadel, the second and final round was always the real battle for the saffron party on whether it could breach the ruling TMC’s southern fortress of Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, Nadia, North and South 24 Parganas and Purba Bardhaman.
At the centre of the larger political fight stood Bhabanipur, no longer merely a south Kolkata constituency but Banerjee’s political refuge, her emotional home turf and the BJP’s chosen psychological battlefield.
Banerjee, 71, seeking a fourth consecutive term after 15 years in power, faced Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari in a prestige battle widely seen as a symbolic rematch of Nandigram, where Adhikari had defeated her in 2021 after crossing over from the TMC to the BJP.
Five years later, the duel shifted to Banerjee’s own bastion. For the TMC, retaining Bhabanipur is about protecting the chief minister’s authority in her own backyard. For the BJP, breaching it would puncture the aura of invincibility around Bengal’s most powerful political figure.
The constituency witnessed nearly 87 per cent polling, sharply up from around 61 per cent in the 2021 assembly polls and 57 per cent in the bypoll that brought Banerjee back to the House.
Banerjee – who usually votes later in the day and prefers staying indoors on the day of polls – broke convention and hit the ground before 8 am, moving through Chetla, Padmapukur and Chakraberia areas following complaints of alleged intimidation of local TMC leaders.
As she sat outside a booth amid heavy deployment of central forces, Adhikari arrived there and declared, "I will not allow any hooliganism." He opposed Banerjee moving around with "50-60 people" with her.
Banerjee accused the BJP of trying to "rig" the election by using central forces, election observers and officials.
"The BJP wants to rig this election. Polls in Bengal are usually peaceful. Is there a goonda raj here?" she said, alleging intimidation of TMC polling agents and late-night visits by CRPF personnel to party workers’ homes.
"The atrocities by the central forces are unprecedented. What is happening is not at all free and fair polls. But despite all this, we have full faith that we will win," she said after casting her vote.
Adhikari dismissed the charges as "frustration", claiming Banerjee had realised that "not a single vote was coming her way".
Tension flared again in Kalighat when Adhikari visited another booth, and TMC workers raised slogans against him. Police resorted to a lathi-charge to disperse the crowd as BJP supporters answered with counter-slogans. Reports of sporadic tension were also received from some other areas amid sights of long queues at polling stations, booth-level flare-ups, and political bickering.
In Kolkata's Entally, BJP candidate Priyanka Tibrewal alleged that the TMC's polling agents tried to assault her after she objected to overcrowding inside a booth and a lack of voter privacy.
In Panihati, BJP candidate and the R G Kar victim's mother, Ratna Debnath, faced protests, while her party colleague in Basanti, Bikash Sardar, alleged that "200 to 250 TMC goons" attacked his vehicle and assaulted his driver.
The TMC, meanwhile, accused the central forces of exercising brute force on the general voters at Falta's Belsingha village, especially women, who were beaten up during a move to disperse a crowd from near a polling station.The party also alleged CAPF high-handedness on women and a four-year-old child at Sathachhia in Howrah and on villagers at Ausgram in Purba Bardhaman district.
"In the name of ensuring security, central force jawans are not sparing even women who were brutally lathi-charged. TMC protests this highhandedness of the male jawans who exercised brute force on unarmed villagers. We draw the EC's attention to such illegal actions of the CAPF and ask the poll body to issue cease-and-desist orders against such use of force. We believe, people of Bengal will respond to this on EVMs," Anirban Banerjee, party spokesperson, said.
The BJP alleged that in several polling stations in Falta, the option to vote for the party was blocked using a tape over EVM poll buttons, and demanded repolls in the affected booths.
The state’s Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal said repolling was likely to be announced in booths where EVMs were found tampered with. However, the order will only be issued after authorities receive reports from the district election officer or election observers regarding allegations of EVM tampering, such as using tapes or a blot of ink, he said.
