In the first ever jail sentence in the riots that rocked northeast Delhi in 2020, a city court on Thursday sent Dinesh Yadav, 25, to jail for five years for torching a 73-year-old woman’s house in Gokalpuri during the communal violence in February that year.

Although the second sentencing in the cases surrounding the northeast Delhi riots, Thursday’s ruling marked the first conviction and sentencing after a full-fledged trial. In the first, there was no trial as the accused pleaded guilty and was let off for the period already spent in custody.

Additional sessions judge Virender Bhat sentenced Yadav alias Michael for being part of an unlawful assembly (Sec 149 of the Indian Penal Code holds every member of such an assembly guilty when an offence is committed), armed rioting using a deadly weapon, trespassing into a house, robbery, and arson.

On December 6, 2021, the court convicted Yadav in the case; the sentencing has been pending since then.

Yadav was arrested in June 2020 and the charges in the case were framed on August 1, 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 part in vandalising and setting afire the house of Manori Devi on February 25,2020.

The woman, who was the complainant in the case, 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.

In its Thursday order, the court said that even though the offence was a serious one, no evidence was provided by the prosecution to prove that the unlawful assembly was in pursuance to some conspiracy.

The judge noted that Yadav was a first time offender and has no record, adding that his young age has to be considered while deciding the quantum of sentence.

“It is also to be kept in mind that the convict has been held guilty only by virtue of section 149 IPC and there was no evidence that he directly committed the incident of violence in which the house of victim Manori Devi had been vandalized and burnt. The young age of the convict also deserves to be kept in consideration while deciding the quantum of sentence to be imposed upon him,” the court said in a five-page order.

It also noted that Yadav, did not have any movable or immovable properties, and is currently jobless, adding that it will be totally unjustified to direct him to pay any further compensation to Devi.

The court awarded him five years imprisonment for arson (436 IPC) while also imposing a fine of ₹12000 for various offences which will be paid to the victim.

It also sentenced him to six months imprisonment for the offence of 143 (unlawful assembly), one year imprisonment for the offence of rioting, three years for the offence under section 392 (robbery) and two years imprisonment for the offence under section 457 (trespass or house-breaking by night ) . All sentences will run concurrently.

While convicting the accused, the judge had said that his presence IN 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.

The judge said that although the testimony of the beat police officials, the two eyewitnesses to the incident, revealed that Yadav had not taken any active part in vandalizing, looting or arson, it cannot be said that he was only a bystander or a passive spectator.

Yadav is guilty of all those offenses which have been committed by the members of the unlawful assembly for the reason that he shared the common object of other members of the assembly, the judhe ruled.

In the first sentencing on December 17, 2021, the court let off Kaleem Ahmed who accepted his guilt of harbouring Shahrukh Pathan, who was accused of rioting.

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