Delhi High Court blames accused on bail for delaying Delhi riots trial, finds no fault with police or court
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday blamed the people on bail in the Delhi riots conspiracy case for the delay in the trial in the case and said the same was impacting those still in jail [Tasleem Ahmed v State Govt of NCT of Delhi].
A Division Bench of Justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidynathan Shankar said that accused persons, who got bail, were trying to delay the arguments on charge on the ground that the investigation is still pending, and this has impacted those accused who are still in prison.
A total of 18 people have been named as accused by the Delhi police in this case, out of which six - Asif Iqbal Tanha, Devangana Kalita, Natasha Narwal, Safoora Zargar, Faizan Khan and Ishrat Jahan - are out on bail.
"Material on record indicates that certain accused persons have got bail and some of the accused persons are in prison. Those accused persons who got bail are trying to delay the arguments on charge on the ground that the investigation is still pending. The arguments on charge are being delayed by the accused persons who are out on bail at the cost of those accused persons who are in prison," the Court observed.
It further said that even though the trial court directed the counsel for the accused to decide amongst themselves as to how and in what order the arguments on charge will be advanced, there was no consensus among them.
The Bench found no fault with the Delhi Police or the trial court for the protraction of the trial.
"The facts and order sheets reveal that the accused themselves have been responsible for delaying the trial at various points in time. The inordinate delay in trial, as alleged by the appellant herein is not due to the inaction of the respondent agency or the trial court," the court said.
The High Court made the observations while rejecting the bail plea filed by Delhi riots accused Tasleem Ahmed who is one among the accused who are still in jail.
In the detailed judgement in Ahmed's bail, the Court ruled that long incarceration cannot be the sole reason for the grant of bail if the facts of the case demand otherwise.
The Court while dealing with the grant of bail under Section 43D(5) of the UAPA has to deal with the merits of the case, except in case of palpable violation of fundamental rights or breach of constitutional rights, the Court added.
"Undoubtedly, speedy trial is a concomitant and a facet of Article 21 of the Constitution of India. However, to ask for bail after there has been a systematic delay in trial on the part of the accused, is not acceptable and if it is done then the statute, which restricts the grant of bail on the ground of delay in trial can easily be circumvented by delaying the trial on the one hand and by pressing bail applications on the other," the Court held.
Advocates Mehmood Pracha, Jatin Bhatt, Sanawar, Kshitij Singh, Mohd Hasan, Heem Sahoo, Nujhat Naseem, Sikander, Sadiya Sultan Chirag Verma appeared for Tasleem Ahmed.
Special Public Prosecutors Amit Prasad and Madhukar Pandey along with advocates Dhruv Pande, Aarush Bhatia, Ayodhya Prasad, Ruchika Prasad, Umesh Kumar Singh, Sulabh Gupta, Harshil Jain, Saravjeet Singh and Daksh Sachdeva appeared for the Delhi Police.
A separate bench of the High Court on Tuesday also denied bail to Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa Ur Rehman, Athar Khan, Meeran Haider, Shadab Ahmed, Abdul Khalid Saifi and Gulfisha Fatima in the same case.
[Read Judgment]