New Delhi: A Delhi court on Thursday sentenced Dinesh Yadav the first person convicted in connection with the violent riots that swept parts of the national capital in February 2020 to five years in jail. He must also pay a fine of Rs 12,000, his lawyer Shikha Garg said. The detailed order of his sentencing has not yet been released. Yadav also becomes the first person to be sentenced in connection with the riots.
Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat convicted Dinesh Yadav for being a member of an unlawful assembly and rioting, and taking part in robbing and burning down the house of a 73-year-old woman. The maximum sentence for his crimes is 10 years in jail. The prosecution had argued Yadav was an “active member of the riotous mob”, and played a role in vandalising and burning down the woman’s home in Bhagirathi Vihar in northeast Delhi’s Gokulpuri.
The elderly woman, identified as Manori, had said a mob of around 150 to 200 rioters attacked her house on February 25th, when her family was away, and looted several valuables. She told the court how she had been forced to jump from the roof of her home to save her life and that she had to hide in a neighbour’s home, while her family called on the police to rescue her.
While hearing the case, Delhi’s Karkardooma court considered the statement of 2 police personnel as key; the police said Dinesh Yadav was part of the mob that attacked Manori’s home, but the accused himself had not been seen burning down the house. But the court ruled that Yadav being part of the mob meant he was as responsible as those who actually did burn the house down. Communal clashes broke out in the northeastern parts of Delhi in February 2020 after tension between supporters of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act and those protesting against it.