A Delhi court on Friday handed life sentences to former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and four others for the 2020 killing of Intelligence Bureau employee Ankit Sharma during riots in the capital. The judge rejected the death penalty even while calling the crime one of extreme cruelty.
Additional Sessions Judge Praveen Singh noted that prosecutors had not shown the convicts were incapable of reform, a necessary step for imposing capital punishment.
The ruling was delivered under heavy security with lawyers, senior police officers and family members present. After the decision, Hussain stated that higher courts would grant him relief.
The order described the attack as extremely brutal and carried out amid communal clashes in northeast Delhi triggered by protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens. The victim was targeted solely because of his religion, the court observed, and the assault continued even after death with the body dragged and discarded.
Despite these findings, the judge declined to award the death penalty. The prosecution had not provided evidence of prior violent behaviour or that the men posed an ongoing threat. The court emphasised that capital punishment is a last resort and that no individual actions during the incident had been specifically attributed to any convict. Membership in an unlawful assembly alone does not meet the threshold for execution.
Delhi Police had requested the death penalty, arguing the attackers showed no mercy. The court convicted Hussain and the four co-accused on July 13.
