The Supreme Court has asked the Delhi police to respond to the bail plea filed by Athar Khan, an accused in the 2020 Delhi Riots conspiracy case. [Athar Khan v State (NCT of Delhi)].A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and Vipul M Pancholi issued notice to the police on August 19 on an appeal filed by Khan against the Delhi High Court’s July 7 judgment denying bail to him..Khan is facing charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Arms Act and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act. The case concerns the alleged larger conspiracy behind the North-East Delhi riots in 2020.The prosecution has accused Khan of managing the Chand Bagh protest site and participating in the alleged conspiracy.The trial court rejected his bail plea on January 29, following which he approached the High Court..The High Court held that the material against Khan, including chats recovered from co-accused Ovais Sultan Khan and the statement of protected witness “Pluto”, prima facie indicated his role as a key conspirator in the violence.It further held that Khan had failed to satisfy both the stringent threshold for bail under Section 43D(5) of the UAPA and the ordinary principles governing the grant of bail..Khan has now approached the Supreme Court challenging the High Court ruling.He has sought bail on the grounds of prolonged incarceration, delay in the trial and parity with co-accused Shadab Ahmad. Khan has been in custody since July 2020.He has also disputed the evidence relied upon against him, pointing out that no weapon was recovered from him and no CCTV footage showed him participating in the violence..Athar Khan was represented by Senior Advocate Raju Ramachandran and advocates Fauzia Shakil, Ahmad Ibrahim, Varisha Sharma, Shruti Narayan, Aryan Deol, M Huzaifa, Ayesha Zaidi, Nida Khan Salim and Ujjwal Singh.Delhi Police was represented by Additional Solicitor General DP Singh and advocates Shreya Dutt, Garima Saxena, Pranjal Singh, Anmol Chandan, Satitya Anand, Kartikeya Asthana and N Visakamurthy..[Read Order]
