Delhi Court convicts man for harbouring anti-CAA violence accused

New Delhi [India], December 17 (ANI): A Delhi court has convicted one accused Kaleem Ahmed of harbouring Shahrukh Pathan, an accused in the anti-CAA violence that took place in northeast Delhi in 2020, and sentenced him to the period already served by him.
Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat on Friday said, "Considering the family status of the convict, his whole individual position, the factum of his voluntary plea of guilt and the fact that his apparent act of contrition deserves to be taken at face value to give another chance to him to reform himself and considering his role and the offence, the convict is sentenced to the period already undergone by him and also to a fine of Rs 2,000/, in default of payment of fine, simple imprisonment of one month. Benefit of Section 428 CrPC be given to the convict Kaleem Ahmed."
The Court noted that convict Kaleem Ahmed has shown remorse in the court and prayed for leniency and pleaded having been misled by accused Shahrukh Pathan.
The court further noted that Ahmed has suffered imprisonment in the present matter from March 17, 2020, till September 7, 2021, while the maximum sentence that can be awarded is three years.
The court also observed that the status of the family of the convict, father of convict suffering from paralysis and there being nine other dependents in the family, he is stated to be the only one in the family providing financial subsistence to the family.
Advocate Bilal Khan, counsel for convict Kaleem Ahmed had submitted that the convict is a poor person of 29 years of age, who is a motor mechanic by profession.
Advocate Khan told the court that he has been in custody for more than one and a half years.
The convict had submitted that he was misled by accused Shahrukh Pathan and sought to take a lenient view in awarding a sentence to the convict.
The court had convicted Kaleem Ahmed under Section 216 IPC for providing shelter to Shahrukh Pathan.
Delhi Police in its chargesheet said that Kaleem Ahmad, resident of Kairana, Uttar Pradesh had given shelter to Shahrukh Pathan. On investigation, Delhi Police also added a charge under section 216 of IPC which deals with harbouring an accused person.
Shahrukh was arrested in a different case on March 3 and is undergoing judicial custody.
According to police, Pathan initially kept roaming around in the national capital before slipping away to Punjab and Uttar Pradesh's Shamli, from where he was arrested later.
According to sources, on February 24, after the incident, Shahrukh went back home and was petrified to see his photos flashing on the television screen. He then changed his clothes, drove to Hauz Khas, kept roaming around in the clubs there, and slept in his car.
He then went to Shamli in Uttar Pradesh, from where he was arrested by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police. During the investigation, Pathan revealed that the car he used belonged to his uncle's son. He had left the car in a garage in Haryana after it broke down.
In February 2020, clashes broke out in the northeast area of Delhi between the groups supporting and opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act, which led to the deaths of at least 53 people. (ANI)