A video shown by him during the show came to rescue three and prisoners who were jailed in a Delh riots case of February 2020. They were under the custody since April 1, 2020.
The Delhi High Court relied on Ravish Kumar's video while observing that "there is no evidence whatsoever, either direct or circumstantial or forensic".
The police stated the accused were part of the minor community I.e. Muslim group which had taken place at the rooftop of Saptarishi Building at Chand Bagh area of North East Delhi, to attack Hindu groups standing at the rooftops of other buildings through firing and stone-pelting. It was further alleged that in that process, Shahid, who was also present at the top of Saptarishi building, got killed as a result of a gunshot.
While arguing for bail, the petitioners' lawyer Advocate Salim Malik pointed out that the 3 accused persons are not seen in the NDTV video, which the prosecution itself has relied upon. The lawyer played the NDTV video during the arguments and showed that the faces of the persons involved in rioting are visible when it is enlarged; however, none of the petitioners were seen in it.
"It is pertinent to mention here that in the post-mortem report, the direction of the wound in which it has entered the body has been given to be from the left side which is going downwards and exiting from the right side. Which means that the injury was from a height and at a distant range, thus, establishes the possibility that the bullet came from Mohan Nursing home or any building which is on the left side of the Saptarishi building and is at height which is on the front and diagonally left to the Saptarishi building and is on more height than that of Saptarishi building", a single bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait said.
"As submitted by learned counsel for petitioner that in the same video relied upon by police, at exact after running of video for 10 minutes, it is seen that Ravish Kumar, NDTV primetime anchor saying that a person is firing rifle from Mohan Nursing Home Hospital and is wearing helmet, there is another person who is covering the weapon with handkerchief and later on,they can be seen in the videos as well. But the investigating agency seems to have concentrated only on one side of the building, although it is an admitted case of prosecution that rioters from both the sides were pelting stones at each other and were firing. Further, in this video, the firing is seen to be done only from Mohan Nursing Home and not from Saptarishi building"
The Court also observed that the theory of close-range shot is just a "conjecture of the investigating agency and is not based on scientific fact".
"Simply because copper like pieces were found near the exit wound of the body, as per the post-mortem report, it would not signify a close-range shot. But it was only on this basis, the investigating agency concluded that the "firing was possibly from close proximity", which is not scientifically possible", the Court opined.
The Court also observed that it was hard to believe that the petitioners will kill a person of their own community during riots.
"Neither there was any motive whatsoever either for them or for any other person allegedly present on the roof of Saptarishi building, to commit the offence, nor has the prosecution alleged any motive in the entire case. Thus, it is hard to believe that a communal riot can be used by the petitioners to cause death of the person of their own community", the Court said.
"Moreover, when it is an admitted case of the prosecution that the petitioners actually let go off the witnesses of the different community and asked them to leave the scene of crime to save their lives, namely, Mukesh, Narayan, Arvind and their families, before climbing on the roof top of Saptarishi building. If,they were really involved in this communal riot and wanted to cause harm to the members of the other community/Hindu community, they would not have tried to save the lives of the above-named members of the other community", the bench observed.
Overall the innocence wins at the end. It was Mr. Ravish Kumar whose actual journalism has brought a new life to these guys. Society needs this kind of reporters.
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