Delhi riot-accused Tahir Hussain no longer a Municipal Councillor

<p class="p1">Months after the Delhi Police named suspended Aam Aadmi Party (Aap) Councillor Tahir Hussain as one of the main conspirators in the Delhi riots, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) today sacked him from the post of Councillor.</p>
<p class="p1">The proposal to sack Hussain was brought to the House as a monthly agenda and was passed unanimously. His membership was scrapped under section 33(2) of the Delhi Municipal Act.</p>
<p class="p1">The said sections stated that if during three successive months, a councilor is, without permission of the Corporation, absent from all the meetings thereof, the Corporation may declare his seat vacant.</p>
<p class="p1">Meanwhile, a Delhi Court on August 21 took cognizance of the charge-sheet filed against Tahir Hussain in the murder case of Intelligence Bureau official Ankit Sharma during the riots in the city in February.</p>
<p class="p1">Metropolitan Magistrate Purushottam Pathak said: "He provoked his community against the other community with a view to promoting enmity on the grounds of religion between Hindus and Muslims claiming that Hindu people have killed a number of Muslims and have set their shops on fire at Sherpur Chowk and they should not let any Hindu go scot-free."</p>
<p class="p1">The court said that on his instigation, Muslims turned violent on February 24 and 25 and started burning shops and pelting stones and petrol bombs on the Hindu community and also targeted their houses situated in that locality.</p>
<p class="p1">Hussain has also been booked under the stringent anti-terror law — Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, in a case related to alleged conspiracy in the riots.</p>
<p class="p1">Communal clashes broke out in northeast Delhi on February 24 after clashes between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiraled out of control leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured.</p>.