Thread by @LiveLawIndia

Delhi Riots: After Acquittal In Two FIRs, Court Convicts Accused Men On Basis Of Evidence Of Cop Who Earlier Cited Memory Loss @nupur_0111 #DelhiCourt #DelhiRiots livelaw.in/news-updates/d…

In all three cases, the prosecution presented two policemen, Head Constable Hari Babu and Constable Vipin Kumar as primary witnesses for identification of the accused.

#DelhiCourt #DelhiRiots

In both FIRs resulting in acquittal, HC Hari Babu failed to identify the accused before court taking the plea of lapse of time & memory loss. The court then acquitted all of them observing that sole testimony of constable cannot be sufficient to assume their presence in the mob.

However, in FIR 53/2020, Babu gave a detailed description of the incidents and identified the accused persons. On court’s query, Babu explained that at the time of his examination in FIR 40/2020, his memory was not in a fit condition and that he was taking "medicine for mind".

The court said that while it was correct that Babu’s medical documents showed he was suffering from ear problem including vertigo, it said that it is not necessary that the person would be suffering from mental illness for not being able to recollect any fact or face correctly.

“As per common knowledge of medical science, vertigo does make a person unstable and very uncomfortable because of severe giddiness etc. In that state of mind, it can be possible with anyone that he does not recollect all the things very correctly and accurately,” court said.

ASJ Pulastya Pramachala also said that the subsequent identification of accused persons by the head constable could be because he would have occasion to recollect the faces during his cross examination in FIR 40/2020.

Court: I do not find any material contradiction or infirmity in respect of the presence of PW6 (head constable) at the concerned place and him witnessing the incident…. I also don’t find any material contradiction on identification of accused persons by this witness in that mob.