Who Is Tahir Hussain ? Former AAP Councillor Gets Second Conviction In 2020 Delhi Riots Cases

Former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain was convicted by a Delhi court on Saturday of abetment of rioting in a case linked to arson in northeast Delhi during the February 2020 riots. The Karkardooma court acquitted 12 co-accused of the remaining charges in the case.

The latest conviction is Hussain’s second in cases related to the 2020 Delhi riots. He was previously sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Intelligence Bureau (IB) staffer Ankit Sharma, who was killed during the violence.

The latest order was passed by Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai at the Karkardooma Courts. The case relates to an incident of arson in the Dayalpur area of northeast Delhi.

According to LiveLaw, the FIR was registered under Sections 147, 148 and 149 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), relating to rioting, Section 427 for mischief causing damage to property, Section 436 for mischief by fire, and Section 120B for criminal conspiracy.

Who Is Tahir Hussain?

Hussain represented the Nehru Vihar ward in northeast Delhi and was a sitting AAP councillor when communal violence broke out in February 2020. Before entering politics, he was known locally as a businessman and later emerged as a political figure in northeast Delhi.

After his name surfaced in the cases related to the riots, the AAP suspended him. The party has maintained that it has had no association with him since 2020.

Hussain joined the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) in December 2024 and contested the 2025 Delhi Assembly election from Mustafabad. In January 2025, the Supreme Court granted him custody parole to campaign for the election. He finished third, securing 33,474 votes.

Apart from the cases arising from the riots, Hussain is also facing trial in the larger Delhi riots conspiracy case registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and other penal provisions.

Ankit Sharma Murder Case

Hussain’s earlier conviction was in the murder of IB staffer Ankit Sharma, whose body was recovered from a drain near Chand Bagh on February 26, 2020, a day after he went missing amid the riots.

According to the prosecution, Sharma was abducted, repeatedly assaulted and stabbed by a mob before his body was dumped in the drain.

On July 13, Additional Sessions Judge Parveen Singh convicted Hussain and four others of Sharma’s murder. The court held that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that Hussain was part of an unlawful assembly that had gathered at Chand Bagh Pulia with the common object of rioting, looting, arson and damaging Hindu properties.

The court also convicted Hussain of rioting and promoting enmity between different religious groups, but acquitted him and the other accused of criminal conspiracy.

During the sentencing proceedings, Special Public Prosecutor Madhukar Pandey argued that Sharma had sustained 51 injuries, 18 of them caused by sharp-edged weapons. He said the victim had been assaulted even after his death and urged the court to award the death penalty.

The court sentenced Hussain and four others to life imprisonment, rejecting the police’s plea for the death penalty. It observed that although the crime was brutal, the prosecution had failed to establish that the convicts were beyond reform or that their release after serving their sentences would pose a threat to society.

Hussain denied the allegations during the trial. A day after being sentenced, he said he would seek justice from the Delhi High Court.

“Insaaf High Court se milega (Justice will come from the High Court),” he told reporters while being escorted out of the Karkardooma court.

As Outlook reported earlier, Hussain challenged his life sentence in the Delhi High Court. A bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Vikas Mahajan admitted his appeal and listed it for hearing on December 2, along with other connected appeals.

Dayalpur Arson Case

The latest conviction concerns a separate case linked to arson in Dayalpur during the 2020 riots.

The FIR invoked provisions of the IPC dealing with rioting, damage to property, mischief by fire and criminal conspiracy. In its Saturday order, the court convicted Hussain of abetment of rioting while acquitting 12 co-accused of the remaining charges.

The conviction adds to the legal cases against the former councillor arising from the violence that swept northeast Delhi in February 2020.