Delhi High Court Seeks Police Reply on Appeals in Ankit Sharma Murder Case

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice seeking the Delhi Police's response to appeals filed by two men, Nazim and Kasim, challenging their conviction and life sentence for the murder of Intelligence Bureau official Ankit Sharma during the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots.

A bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Vikas Mahajan sought the police reply on the appeals as well as applications filed by the two convicts seeking suspension of their sentence. The High Court scheduled the next hearing in the matter for December 2.

In their appeal, Nazim and Kasim argued that no test identification parade was conducted during the investigation. They further contended that their conviction by the trial court was based solely on the testimony of a single witness, which was not corroborated by other evidence.

During the hearing, Delhi Police's counsel, Rajat Nair, informed the bench that the police are also in the process of filing an appeal against the trial court's order. The trial court had acquitted six other accused in the case.

On July 13, the trial court convicted former Aam Aadmi Party councillor Tahir Hussain and four others for Sharma's murder, holding that Hussain along with an armed mob carried out a savage and relentless attack. On July 31, the trial court sentenced Hussain, Nazim, Kasim, and two others to life imprisonment.

The trial court rejected the police's plea for capital punishment. It observed that while the crime was horrendous, sickening, and fell within the rarest of rare category due to its utmost brutality, the prosecution had failed to establish that the convicts' continued existence in prison would pose a menace to society or that they were beyond the possibility of reform.

In its sentencing order, the trial court noted that the murderous mob attacked the victim solely on account of religion, killing him with utmost brutality before throwing his dead body into a nala.