Delhi Riots: Prosecution can't take unlimited time to oppose bail plea of accused, says Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday said that Delhi Police cannot endlessly argue against the bail petitions filed by accused in Delhi riots conspiracy case..A Division Bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain remarked that it is not hearing appeals against conviction or acquittal but only dealing with bail petitions and arguments in such petitions cannot go on forever.The prosecution needs to stick to a timeline to point out the role played by each of the accused, the Court said.“One can understand you need one hour, quarter of an hour. But we cannot grant unlimited time. Show us what is the conspiracy and what is the person’s role. Summarise your arguments. We are not hearing appeals but only bail… We are not going to read 7,000 pages,” the Court said.The Court stressed that it will consider the bail application on merits and parity only.“We only need to see the matter on merits. If the accused fail to make a case on merits, we will consider them on parity. If they fail on parity also, we will dismiss the bail. But we cannot hear it for days,” the bench underscored. .The Court made these remarks while hearing the bail plea filed by accused Khalid Saifi.Senior Advocate Rebecca John argued the case for Saifi and concluded her arguments.Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad then began his submissions for the Delhi Police. He referred to the chats of the WhatsApp groups and said that the records in the case are voluminous..At one point when Prasad was referring to some material against Saifi, the Bench remarked that he was only referring to "matchsticks and not the fire".“Chhoti chhoti maachis jali hui dikha rahe ho aap. Aag dikhao na (You are only referring to small matchsticks. Show us the fire)," the Court said.It added that it is not looking for a story but wants to see what Saifi's role was and how he contributed to the conspiracy..Finally, Prasad said that he will summarise his arguments, make a convenience compilation and then address the court.The Bench then proceeded to adjourn the case to Tuesday and called for the case diary..The High Court is seized of a batch of bail petitions in the Delhi riots conspiracy case. The cases are being re-argued since Justice Siddharth Mridul, who was earlier hearing the petitions, was elevated as the Chief Justice of Manipur High Court.Justice Mridul was the presiding judge of the Bench which had heard these cases in detail. After he was transferred, a bench led by Justice Kait is now hearing the arguments afresh.