New Delhi, August 1: A Delhi court has sentenced former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain to life imprisonment for the murder of Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer Ankit Sharma during the 2020 North East Delhi riots. In response to this verdict, the victim’s family is calling for the death penalty.
Ankur Sharma, brother of Ankit, expressed disappointment that the court did not impose the death sentence. He stated that if the case reaches the Delhi High Court or the Supreme Court, the family will continue to fight for justice. “We believed this should have been classified as one of the ‘rarest of rare’ cases. The guilty party deserves the harshest punishment. We wanted him to receive the death penalty,” he said.
While acknowledging that the court delivered justice, he reiterated that Tahir Hussain should have been sentenced to death. He urged all political parties to ensure that when the case goes to a higher court, both Tahir Hussain and others involved receive the death penalty.
The Karkardooma Court described the murder as “brutal,” noting that Ankit Sharma’s body was dragged and dumped in a nearby drain. The court recognized that the crime was close to being classified as one of the “rarest of rare” cases but concluded that the legal requirements for a death sentence were not met.
The court stated that there was no solid evidence of an individual’s role in the fatal attack and that the possibility of rehabilitation could not be dismissed. According to the prosecution, Ankit Sharma was surrounded by a mob while trying to de-escalate tensions on February 25, 2020. He was allegedly attacked with knives, sticks, iron rods, and stones, with his body recovered the next day from a drain, bearing 51 stab wounds.
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