2020 northeast Delhi riots left 53 dead | Illustration: Prajna Ghosh | ThePrint

By BISMEE TASKIN

New Delhi: Among the 53 lives extinguished when communal riots broke out in northeast Delhi were those of Mehtab, Jakir, Ashfaq and Jameel — four Muslim men who were killed in separate instances of mob violence on 25 February, 2020. One of them had stepped out to fetch milk, another was returning home from work, and a third had stepped out to offer namaz.

Mutilated and partially burnt bodies of the four men were recovered by the Delhi police, which initially registered a single FIR in this regard before lodging four separate cases. In three of these cases, police named four Hindu men and one Muslim man as the accused.

Last week, a Delhi court acquitted all five — Ashok Kumar, Ajay alias Monu, Subham Singh and Jitender Kumar of charges of murder and rioting, and Arif Khan alias Mota of charges of rioting.

This story was originally published in theprint.in. Read the full story here.