"Should Have Got Death Penalty": Intel Officer's Brother On Tahir Hussain

New Delhi: The brother of Intelligence Bureau officer Ankit Sharma has said former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain should have been given the death penalty after a Delhi court sentenced him to life imprisonment for Sharma's murder during the 2020 Delhi riots.Speaking over the phone, Ankit Sharma's brother, Ankur Sharma, said the family would continue its legal battle if the case reaches the Delhi High Court or the Supreme Court."Our demand was that the court should treat this case as a 'rarest of rare' case, and that the guilty should receive the harshest possible punishment. They should have been given the death penalty; that is what we wanted," he told NDTV."As the case moves to the Delhi High Court or the Supreme Court, we want my brother to get justice there as well, and the guilty should receive the severest punishment. An example should be set so that such an incident never happens to anyone else," he added. Delhi's Karkardooma Court on Friday sentenced Hussain to life imprisonment after convicting him in the murder of the 26-year-old Intelligence Bureau security assistant, who was killed during the violence that engulfed parts of northeast Delhi in February 2020."The manner of the crime was of utmost brutality," the court said. "The savagery did not end with the murder. His body was dragged into a drain nearby as if the hatred was still not satiated."The court said that the offence "tilts towards the rarest of rare" and added that "the monstrosity of the crime also outweighs the mitigating circumstances."However, it stopped short of awarding the death penalty, saying the legal test for capital punishment had not been met."The final test is whether the convict is beyond redemption or not," the court said.The court noted that the "absence of individual role against the convicts" constituted a significant mitigating factor. The court also cited the educational background of the accused and their susceptibility to misinformation in the prevailing atmosphere as mitigating circumstances.According to the prosecution, Sharma was dragged by a mob, assaulted with knives, sticks, iron rods and stones before his body was thrown into a nearby drain during the riots. His body, bearing at least 51 knife wounds, was recovered the following day.The chargesheet said that on February 25, 2020, around 5 pm, Sharma was attempting to pacify two groups near Hussain's house when he was surrounded by a mob.Hussain's lawyer, Tara Narula, said the former councillor was merely present in the crowd and was not directly involved in the killing."The court has only two options - life sentence or death sentence. The court agreed that it was a case of vicarious liability, means of the five accused, none used a knife. We believe our client is innocent. We are preparing to file an appeal," Narula said.In a separate statement, Hussain said he would continue his legal fight."Justice may be delayed, but it will not be denied. I will get justice from the high court. The match was fixed," he said.Following the sentencing, Delhi Law Minister Kapil Mishra welcomed the verdict but said he hoped a higher court would impose the death penalty.In a post on X, Mishra said, "Tahir Hussain's life imprisonment sentence is the beginning of justice. The cruelty with which Ankit Sharma ji was killed, stabbed with knives even after death, the body thrown into a drain - this is certainly the rarest of rare. It is hoped that in the high court, this life imprisonment will be converted to the death penalty."