Delhi High Court slams PIL petitioner who sought 6-month deadline for Red Fort blasts trial

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking the appointment of a committee to monitor the Red Fort bomb blast trial and complete the same in six months.

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said that it cannot monitor a trial which has not even started.

"What is this? It’s not even started, and you want us to monitor how the trial is to be conducted? It hasn't started yet, and you want us to monitor? I can understand if it had been pending for years, but it's not even started," Justice Gedela said.

Chief Justice Upadhyaya said that the petitioner had failed to show any infringement of their fundamental rights.

"This is a PIL petition based on your experience that the previous trials have taken years. And, therefore, we should assume this trial will also take time? You want the supervision of the investigation, of the filing of the chargesheet. We should supervise," CJ said.

The counsel appearing for the petitioner argued that the Court's directions will send an assurance to the victims of the blast.

He added that previous terror trials have gone on for more than 25 years and that even the last Red Fort terror attack case went on for more than seven years.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma appeared for the Central government and said that PIL was misconceived and the petitioners had failed to mention the fact that the investigation is no longer with the Delhi Police but transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

It will be governed by the UAPA, Sharma added.  

The Court said that it is not going to pass any directions on the PIL.

The petitioner then withdrew the plea.

The plea filed by former MLA Dr Pankaj Pushkar sought directions to constitute a court-monitored oversight mechanism or committee to monitor all stages of the trial.

It also sought a direction to hold the trial on a day-to-day basis and complete the same in 6 months.

The plea stated that the petitioner is a single parent of a 21-year-old woman and feels the "tremor of every anxious question echoing across households: 'Why did this happen? Who is responsible? Are we safe?'”

It stated that the blast was an assault on India's most sacred symbol of sovereignty and has left citizens frightened, grieving, and searching for clarity.

"In ordinary criminal jurisprudence, victims or their families usually understand the basic circumstances, motives, or mens rea behind the crime that has taken their loved ones. But in the present case, the victims’ families remain in complete darkness. They do not know why their loved ones were killed, what purpose the attack served, or which forces orchestrated such a devastating blow at the heart of the Republic. This absence of explanation deepens the trauma and violates the victims’ fundamental right to truth, a right recognised as an integral part of dignity under Article 21," the plea said.