Delhi High Court rejects Delhi Police appeal against bail to Ishrat Jahan in Delhi riots case

The Delhi High Court on Friday rejected the appeal filed by Delhi Police challenging the trial court order granting bail to Congress councilor Ishrat Jahan in a case related to North-East Delhi riots of February 2020..A Division Bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja said that more than 4 years have passed since Ishrat Jahan was granted bail by the special court and there is nothing to show that she has violated any of the bail conditions..Jahan was arrested in March 2020 in connection with a Delhi Riots case for the alleged commission of offences under provisions of the Indian Penal Code, Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, Arms Act and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).The Special Court had granted Jahan bail in March 2022, while noting that she was not the one who created the idea of Chakka Jam, and was not a member of any of the organisations or WhatsApp groups which played a role in the conspiracy..In its appeal, Delhi Police argued that the lower court ignored the evidence and statements which were produced before it and passed the order "discarding the evidences which clearly made out a sinister plot of engineering mass-scale violent riots" in the national capital. "It is also pertinent to note here that that the said riots did not occur in the spur of moment or due to fit of communal anger but was pre-planned in multi-layered, multi-organizational fashion," said the plea.It stated that the timing of the riots was meticulously chosen by the Jahan and other co-conspirators with the visit of American President so as to garner the attention of international media. .The plea further argued that the lower court's order was not only in the teeth of the settled of law, but suffered from infirmities which go to the root of the matter.In January 2024, the trial court framed charges of attempt to murder and rioting against Jahan. The trial in the case is ongoing..[Delhi Riots] Ishrat Jahan did not create idea of Chakka Jam; not part of incriminating WhatsApp groups: Delhi court bail order