Delhi riots: Charges framed against ex-AAP leader Tahir Hussain, 5 others

A local court on Friday framed charges against former Aam Aadmi Party leader Tahir Hussain and five others in connection with a case pertaining to the violence that broke out in northeast Delhi in February 2020.

Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat while framing charges against Hussain and five other accused -- Anas, Firoz, Javed, Gulfam and Shoaib Alam -- observed that Hussain was not a mute spectator but was taking an active part in the riots and instigating the members of the unlawful assembly.

Framed charges against the accused are under sec. 120B (criminal conspiracy) 147 (Punishment for rioting) 148 (Rioting, armed with a deadly weapon) 427, 435 (Mischief by fire or explosive substance), 436, 395 (Punishment for dacoity), and 149(Unlawful Assembly) of IPC. Additional charges under sec. 109 (abetment of offence) and 114 (Abettor present when offence is committed) IPC are also framed against Hussain.

"Tahir Hussain's house throwing stone, petrol bombs, etc. from there. It is, thus, evident that the accused Tahir Hussain was not only a mere conspirator but an active rioter also. He was not a mute spectator but was taking an active part in the riots and instigating the other members of the unlawful assembly to teach lesson to the persons belonging to other community, "A" the judge noted in the order.

"It can be said that the localised conspiracy involved in the instant case had emerged out of the larger conspiracy alleged in case FIR No. 59/2020 and the same may also turn out be a part of such larger conspiracy but the fact of the matter is that both conspiracies had been hatched at different places, at different times, by different persons and with distinct objects in the mind," the order said.

After the Delhi violence, the role of Hussain came out and from his house, the police recovered several petrol bombs as well as acid pouches. His house in the Khajuri Khas area of northeast Delhi was also used for stone-pelting and hurling petrol bombs during the violence.

On August 27, 2020, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) cancelled its membership of Hussain and he is no longer a Municipal Councillor from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He was suspended from the post after his name cropped out pursuant to the riots.