Delhi Riots: Man Gets Five Years In Jail And A Fine Of Rs. 12,000

Dinesh Yadav was convicted last month for robbing and burning the house

A Delhi court on 20 January announced 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 ? 12,000, his lawyer Shikha Garg was quoted by the news agency PTI. 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.

In First Sentencing Over Delhi Riots, Man Gets 5 Years In Jail.

Over 50 people died and around 200 were injured in the 2020 communal clashes in northeast Delhi (File)

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.

Dinesh Yadav had been convicted last month 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 25, 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.

Meanwhile, yesterday, in another case related to the riots, the Delhi High Court granted bail to six people accused of vandalising and setting fire to a shop in the Gokulpuri area.

The fire, police said, led to the death of 22-year-old Dilbar Negi, a store employee, whose mutilated body was recovered from the shop premises two days later.

The police said the accused allegedly also ransacked and torched several other shops in the area

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.

Over 50 people died and around 200 were injured in the violence that followed.

On the eve of February 23, riots broke out in Northeast Delhi between Anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and pro-CAA protestors. The violence took a communal turn and led to the death of over 53 people over the next 10 days.

More than 200 were left injured. Shops and houses were burnt down and even places of worship were attacked.

Protests began in Delhi and other parts of the country in December 2019 in response to the passage of the Citizenship Bill, which paved the way for grant of citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains, Buddhists and Christians who took refuge in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan in or before December 2014.

The Act was seen by protestors as discriminatory to Muslims and threatening to their existence in India when combined with the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Several demonstrations were held in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Aligarh, Bengaluru, Kolkata and other parts of the country.

Most of the protests were peaceful, barring a few incidents of stone-pelting and burning of vehicles. Peaceful protests in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, led mostly by women who endured the national capital's biting cold, drew a lot of attention, especially before the Delhi Assembly election of February 2020, and became a symbol of women-led anti-CAA protests across the country.

However, their demonstration caused road blockage, much to the discomfort of commuters.