Delhi Riots 2020: Delhi HC seeks report from trial court on number of pleas seeking supply of documents and their status

New Delhi [India], February 8 (ANI): The Delhi High Court on Wednesday called for a report from the trial court hearing Larger Conspiracy of Delhi Riots 2020 case on the number of pleas seeking the supply of documents filed and the charge sheet till date. The High Court has also asked about their status.
Mohd Saleem Khan was booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and sections related to riots and conspiracy.
Delhi police special cell has been investigating the case since 2020. However, a main charge sheet and four supplementary charge sheets have already been filed.
A division bench comprising justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain issued direction to registry for requisition of report from trial court.
The High Court passed the direction while hearing the bail plea of Mohd Saleem Khan, who has been in custody since 2020. The high court has also asked as to when the charge sheet was filed against Khan.
"Registry is directed to requisition a report from the learned trial court as to when the chargesheet was filed against the accused," the division ordered on February 7, 2024.
During the arguments on bail, it was submitted by the counsel for accused that the accused had no role in the conspiracy of riots.
It was also submitted that accused is in custody and trial is being delayed since long. Opposing the contention, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad submitted that the trial is being delayed by the accused persons only filing the applications seeking supply of documents.
After recording the contentions, the division bench directed that
the learned Trial Court shall apprise this Court about the number of applications filed by the accused for supply of documents under Section 207 Cr.P.C till date and shall also specify the status of those applications indicating as to how many such applications have been disposed of and how many of those are still pending.
"Learned Trial Court shall also apprise this Court as to how many cases are listed before it on a day-to-day basis and about the total pendency to assess the workload of the said Court," the High Court ordered.
The matter has been listed on March 5, 2024, for hearing. On May 23, 2022, the High Court issued notice to Delhi Police on an appeal filed by north east Delhi riots accused Mohd Saleem Khan.
Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat of Karkardooma Court on 22 March 2022 dismissed the bail application. He challenged the order passed by the trial court.
The appeal has stated that even though the FIR does not disclose the name or any role of the appellant, he was arrested on 25 June 2020 in the present case after a significant delay of 111 days.
The appellant has been in incarceration for 687 days as of the date of filing the appeal. Further, the prosecution has submitted some piece of evidence of that CCTV video footage in which he can be seen carrying a wiper again, alleging that he has broken that CCTV camera, which was also produced as a substantial piece of evidence in a case registered at police station Dayalpur.
It was alleged by the prosecution that the appellant, along with others, started the Chand Bagh anti-CAA protest and used to give provocative speeches. He along with others, was the person of responsibility in the protest and used to arrange food items and to bear the expense of the protest.
Protest organisers used to secretly meet in his office in Chand Bagh. He attended a meeting in the night of 16/17 February 2020 to plan road block. In the night of 20/21 February 2020, he along with others went to a shop to order biryani of Rs. 10,000.
The prosecution had alleged that he attended a meeting in the night of 20/21 February 2020, at the basement of Ayaz to plan riots. He along with others announced a march on 23 February 2020 which was cancelled due to lack of police permission. He along with others was present at the protest site on February 24, 2020, and was provoking the people. He along with others was involved in the riots. (ANI)