Former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain was sentenced to life for Ankit Sharma’s murder.
Delhi Police had sought the death penalty, citing the brutality of the crime.
The court ruled that the convicts were not beyond the possibility of reformation.
A Delhi court has sentenced former Aam Aadmi Party councillor Tahir Hussain to life imprisonment for the murder of Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma during the 2020 northeast Delhi riots. The Delhi Police had sought the death penalty for Hussain.
Pronouncing the sentence, Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Praveen Singh of the Karkardooma Court described the killing as exceptionally brutal, Indian Express reported.
“The crime was committed with utmost brutality during the communal violence…the barbarity committed is nauseating and sickening,” the judge said. “The body was dragged like an animal and thrown in the drain,” he added.
The court, however, declined the prosecution’s request for capital punishment, observing that the State had not placed material on record to establish that the convicts had a violent disposition or continuing criminal propensity.
“Death penalty is a last resort…the convicts can be disciplined and made to follow the rule based order,” the court said, while noting that the convicts could not be considered beyond the possibility of reformation.
During sentencing, the convicts told the court that they were the sole earning members of their respective families. The judge, however, held that the gravity of the offence outweighed this mitigating circumstance.
“Every one of the convicts pleaded that they’re the sole breadwinners. The monstrosity of the crime outweighs this fact,” ASJ Singh said.
Hussain’s defence had opposed the demand for the death penalty, citing his conduct and arguing that capital punishment could not be imposed merely on the basis of the nature and number of injuries suffered by the victim.
The defence team, comprising advocates Rajiv Mohan, Narula, Sonal Sarda and Shivangi Sharma, also contended that no evidence of criminal conspiracy had emerged during the trial. It further argued that even the police had been unable to bring the violent mob under control during the riots.
Six years after Sharma’s killing, the Delhi court convicted Hussain and four others in the case on July 13. Hussain, who was suspended by the AAP shortly after the violence, was found guilty of murder, rioting and other offences. The court, however, acquitted him of the charge of criminal conspiracy.
Sharma went missing on February 25, 2020, after leaving his home in Chand Bagh to buy household supplies. According to the police, he was intercepted and dragged away by a violent mob before being killed and his body was subsequently dumped in a drain.
Police said Sharma suffered 51 stab wounds. His body was recovered from the drain the following morning.
Sharma was among the 53 people killed in the communal violence that erupted in northeast Delhi in February 2020.
An FIR in the case was registered on February 26, 2020, on the basis of a complaint filed by Sharma’s father, Ravinder Kumar. In his complaint, Kumar named Hussain as an accused and alleged that rioters operating from Hussain’s building were responsible for the attack.
