'Sense of justice' but fight not over, Ankit Sharma's family seeks 'rarest of rare' punishment for former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain & four others

New Delhi: The verdict brought relief, but not the brother they lost, the family of Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma said on Friday after former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and four others were sentenced to life imprisonment for his murder during the 2020 northeast Delhi riots.

A Delhi court on Friday sentenced Hussain and four others to life imprisonment after convicting them for Sharma's murder. Additional Sessions Judge Praveen Singh, while pronouncing the sentence, said the prosecution had failed to establish that the convicts were beyond the possibility of reformation.

"After almost six years of fighting this case, our family finally feels that we have received a sense of justice," Ankit's brother Ankur Sharma told PTI.


Calling it "a very long and painful journey", Ankur said there were times when it felt the legal process would never end, but the family continued to have faith in the judicial system. Friday's verdict, he said, had brought them "some relief" and a feeling that their years of waiting and struggle had not gone in vain.

He added that the family, however, has lived with the grief every single day over the past six years. He said that whenever his brother's case came up on television debates, in newspapers or even in conversations, it reopened wounds that had never really healed.

Every discussion reminded them that Ankit was no longer with them. "It was emotionally very difficult for all of us, but we continued to hope that one day justice would be done," he said.

Describing the verdict as a "bittersweet moment", Ankur said the judgment had acknowledged the gravity of the crime, but could never make up for the family's loss. "There is relief because the court has delivered a strong verdict. But there is an emptiness that no judgment can ever fill," he said.

The pain is especially intense on family occasions. "My brother was born on February 2, 1994. He would have turned 32 this year," Ankur told PTI. Every birthday reminds the family of the life he could have lived, the dreams he could have fulfilled and the moments they have lost forever, he said.

While welcoming the verdict, Ankur said the family's legal battle was not over.

"Our fight is still not over," he said. Appealing to higher courts, he said the family hoped the case would be treated as one of the "rarest of rare" and that every person found guilty would receive the same punishment. "Only then will we feel that complete justice has been delivered to my brother and to our family," he told PTI.

Meanwhile, Hussain said he would challenge the verdict. "Insaaf High Court se milega (Justice will come from the High Court)," he said while being escorted out of the courtroom after the sentencing.

He further said, "The High Court will give justice; it is not too late."

Earlier, the Delhi Police had sought the death penalty for all five convicts, contending that the offence fell within the "rarest of rare" category. Special Public Prosecutor Madhukar Pandey argued that Sharma was brutally killed and no mercy had been shown to him during the assault.

On July 13, the court had convicted Hussain and the four co-accused for Sharma's murder. It held that Hussain was part of a heavily armed unlawful assembly involved in rioting, arson and loot during the 2020 riots and that Sharma was murdered in a "savage and relentless assault".

Sharma's body was later recovered from a drain.