Delhi Riots Case: Delhi HC seeks police response on bail pleas of Saleem Malik, Athar Khan

New Delhi [India], February 6 (ANI): The Delhi High Court issued notice on the bail pleas of Saleem Malik Munna and Athar Khan, the accused in the North East Delhi riots conspiracy case.
Their pleas were recently rejected by the trial court in view of the legal provisions of the UAPA. They have challenged the trial court's order.
The Division Bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Madhu Jain issued a notice to the Delhi Police and directed them to file an affidavit within 2 weeks.
The next hearing date is March 3.
During the hearing, counsel for Saleem Malik Munna submitted that the two similarly placed accused, namely Saleem Khan and Shadab Khan, have been granted bail by the Supreme Court.
On the other hand, the trial court, while rejecting the bail plea of Saleem Malik Munna and Athar Khan, said, "When I had already rejected the bail plea in view of a prima facie case, granting bail to these accused now would amount to reviewing my own order. The counsel submitted and added that this is a wrong application."
Advocate Dhruv Pandey appeared on behalf of the Delhi Police and accepted the notices.
On January 29, Delhi's Karkardooma Court rejected regular bail pleas of Tahir Hussain, Athar Khan and Saleem Malik alias Munna.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Sameer Bajpai rejected the bail pleas of Ex MCD councillor Tahir Husain, Athar Khan and Saleem Malik alias Munna.
While rejecting the bail pleas, the court said that there is no merit in the applications in view of the legal provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
On January 5, the Supreme Court granted bail to 5 accused in this case. The bail pleas of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam were rejected by the apex court.
"Now, despite the order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court regarding co-accused persons, when this Court has once formed the opinion that prima facie a case is made out against the applicant, no other different opinion can be formed now by reviewing the earlier order," ASJ Bajpai said in the order passed on January 29.
While dismissing the bail plea of Tahir Hussain, the court said, "Accordingly, the Court doesn't find merits in the application, and the same is hereby dismissed."
The court dismissed Tahir Hussain's bail application on March 30, 2024, and stated that the allegations against the accused are prima facie true.
"In the earlier order, this Court also observed that a prima facie case was there against the applicant and the bar under section 43D(5) OF UAPA was there and therefore, the case of the applicant was not a fit case for bail," the court said in the order.
In this case, Tahir Hussain, Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Ishrat Jahan, Safoora Zargar and others are accused in this case. They are charge-sheeted under the IPC and UAPA. The matter is at the stage of arguements on charges. (ANI)