Dinesh Yadav on Thursday became the first person to be sentenced in connection with the Delhi riots in 2020.

The 25-year-old, who in December also became the first person to be convicted in connection with the riots, has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Clashes had broken out between supporters of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and its detractors between February 23 and 26, 2020, in north east Delhi. The violence that erupted as a result left 53 people, most of them Muslim, dead in its wake.

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Yadav had been involved in these clashes, and according to a complaint, the 25-year-old was part of a 150-200 strong mob that vandalised a woman’s home in Bhagirathi Vihar in northeast Delhi’s Gokulpuri, looted her possessions, and set her house ablaze on February 25, 2020.

The woman, 73-year-old Manori, had lodged a complaint following the incident, and Yadav was arrested on June 8, 2020, nearly four months after the riots.

Subsequently, on August 3, 2021, a Delhi court framed charges against the 25-year-old, which Yadav claimed he was not guilty of. A subsequent trial ensued and the 25-year-old was found guilty of several charges on December 6, 2021.

Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat found Yadav to be guilty under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, namely, sections 143 (member of an unlawful assembly), 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon), 392 (robbery), 436 (arson), and 457 (house trespass).

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He was subsequently sentenced to five years in prison on January 20, 2022, out of a maximum possible sentence of 10 years, for being an “active part of a riotous mob” and was also fined Rs 12,000. It is understood that Yadav was not sentenced to 10 years in prison as statements from two police personnel, deemed crucial by the court, suggested that while Yadav had been at the scene of the crime, he was not seen setting fire to Manori’s house himself.