2020 Delhi riots: Man who torched a woman’s house slapped with 5-year jail term

In the first ever jail sentence over the deadly riots that rocked northeast Delhi in 2020, a city court on Thursday slapped Dinesh Yadav, 25, with five years of imprisonment for torching a 73-year-old woman's house in Gokalpuri during the communal violence in February that year.

Although it is the second sentencing in the cases surrounding the northeast Delhi riots, Thursday's ruling marks the first conviction and sentencing after a full-fledged trial. In the first sentencing, there was no trial as the accused had pleaded guilty and was let off for the period already undergone.

The deadly rioting had claimed 53 lives and left at least 400 people injured.

Additional sessions judge Virendra Bhat sentenced Yadav alias Michael for being part of an unlawful assembly, armed rioting using a deadly weapon, trespassing a house, robbery, and committing mischief using fire or an explosive substance with the intention of destroying a house.

A detailed order on the sentence was expected to be uploaded on the district court's website.

On 6 December, 2021, the court had convicted Yadav in the case and sentencing was pending since then.

Yadav was arrested in June 2020 and the charges in the case were framed on1  August 2021. A total of 12 prosecution witnesses were examined during the trial.

According to the prosecution, Yadav was an "active member of the riotous mob" and took active participation in vandalising and setting afire the house of a 73-year-old woman named Manori on 25 February,2020.

The woman, who was the complainant in the case, had alleged that a mob of around 150-200 rioters attacked her house when her family was not present and looted all their belongings, including a buffalo.

While convicting the accused, the judge had said that his presence among the mob at the scene, with a wooden pole, indicated that he shared the common objective of unlawful assembly and to target a different community.

Meanwhile, in the first sentencing on December 17, 2021, the court had let off a convict, awarding him a period already undergone and imposing a fine of ₹2,000 as he accepted his guilt of harbouring Shahrukh Pathan, who was accused of rioting.

Earlier, on 7 December last year, the court had convicted Kaleem Ahmed for giving shelter to Pathan at Shamli after he pleaded guilty to his crime.