A court in Delhi 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 mere fact that the prosecution did not prove active participation of the convict in the riot, does not dilute the gravity of his conduct, for the hand that guides is as guilty, if not more, as the hand that acts.”
The court also rejected Hussain’s claim that he was helpless when a mob allegedly forcibly occupied his house and that he had made several calls to the police control room. It noted that he had failed to prove the alleged calls or produce other evidence in support of his defence.
The judge further noted that Hussain had not filed any complaint against known or unknown persons alleging they had forcibly occupied his house and used it to attack people during the riots.
The court said the aggravating circumstances substantially outweighed the mitigating circumstances put forward by the defence, sentencing him to two years’ rigorous imprisonment, and imposing a fine of ₹10,000.
Hussain was convicted for allowing a mob to use the terrace of his house on Main Karawal Nagar Road to pelt stones at passersby and nearby properties on February 24, 2020.
In its October 10 judgment, the court had acquitted him of more serious charges, including rioting while armed with deadly weapons, theft, mischief and trespass. It also acquitted nine other accused, holding that the prosecution had failed to prove its case against them.
This is Hussain’s second conviction in connection with the February 2020 riots. On July 31, a Delhi court sentenced him and four co-convicts to life imprisonment for the murder of Intelligence Bureau officer Ankit Sharma.
Hussain was expelled by the AAP in February 2020, hours after an FIR was registered against him in connection with the riots. He joined the AIMIM in 2024 and contested the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections on its ticket, but lost.
The riots in northeast Delhi in February 2020 left 53 people dead and caused extensive damage to property.
