New Delhi, Oct. 16 -- A court here on Friday sentenced former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain to two years' rigorous imprisonment for abetting rioting during the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, saying he had used his position as an elected representative to facilitate violence instead of maintaining peace and harmony.

Hussain was convicted on October 10 under IPC Section 147 (rioting) read with Section 109 (abetment).

In the Friday verdict, Additional Sessions Judge Parveen Singh held that "the aggravating circumstances substantially outweigh the mitigating circumstances urged on behalf of the convict. No mitigating circumstance of sufficient weight has been established which would justify a lesser sentence".

Special Public Prosecutor Madhukar Pandey sought the maximum sentence for Hussain, arguing this was his second conviction in a riot-

related case.

He submitted that Hussain, an elected representative at the time, had a responsibility to maintain peace but instead facilitated the riots by allowing rioters to use his house to attack the public.

The court noted the submission and said Hussain was expected to act as a restraining influence on people in a communally charged environment.

"Instead of discharging this responsibility, the convict has been found to have abetted the riots by providing his house, which was the highest point in the locality, as a place from where the rioters could attack people and damage property,"

the judge said.

The court said Hussain's position, which ought to have been used to prevent violence, was instead used to facilitate it, warranting a sentence that reflected the gravity of the offence, and served as a

deterrent.

Rejecting the defence's plea for leniency, the court said the absence of Hussain's physical participation in the rioting mob could not substantially reduce his culpability.

The court sentenced former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain to two years' rigorous imprisonment for allowing a mob to use his terrace during the

2020 riots.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.