A Delhi court has convicted expelled AAP leader and former councillor Tahir Hussain of abetment to rioting for allowing a mob to use his building as a vantage point to attack people and properties during the February 2020 northeast Delhi riots.
Additional Sessions Judge Parveen Singh convicted Hussain under Section 147 of the Indian Penal Code, relating to rioting, read with Section 109, which deals with abetment. The case was registered at Dayalpur police station.
According to the 53-page judgment, the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that a mob gathered on the terrace of Hussain’s house on Main Karawal Nagar Road between 2 pm and 3 pm on February 24, 2020. The court held that the group used the height of the building to pelt stones at passers-by and nearby properties.
The court relied on the testimonies of four public witnesses in reaching its conclusion. The findings place the building at the centre of the case, with its terrace identified as a location from which attacks were carried out during the unrest.
Hussain was acquitted of the more serious charges listed in the case, including rioting while armed with a deadly weapon, theft from a residential house, causing damage, mischief by fire or explosive, and trespass to commit an offence punishable with life imprisonment. These charges were brought under Sections 148, 380, 427, 435, 436 and 450 of the IPC, read with Section 109.
The conviction is the second involving Hussain in a case connected with the riots. On July 31, a Delhi court sentenced the former AAP councillor and four co-convicts to life imprisonment for the murder of Intelligence Bureau officer Ankit Sharma.
The latest judgment adds to the continuing legal record around the northeast Delhi violence, where buildings, terraces and streets became part of the physical setting in which attacks occurred. In this case, the court’s finding specifically concerns the alleged use of a private building’s elevated position to facilitate stone-pelting.
The available report does not state the sentence imposed in the present abetment-to-rioting case or indicate whether Hussain plans to challenge the conviction. Further proceedings will determine the next legal step.
