New Delhi, July 31 -- A Delhi court has sentenced former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain and four co-accused--Nazim, Qasim, Javed, and Anas--to life imprisonment for the brutal murder of Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer Ankit Sharma during the February 2020 Northeast Delhi riots.

Delivering the order, Delhi's Karkardooma Court noted that while the crime was heinous, the threshold of the convicts being "beyond reformation" required for the death penalty was not established. It further highlighted that the conviction relied on vicarious liability under Section 149 (unlawful assembly).

The verdict has triggered sharp reactions across political lines, with the victims demanding capital punishment, defence teams preparing to a...