2020 Northeast Delhi riots: 5 accused in larger conspiracy case to now argue on grounds of delay, parity with those granted bail

With the five accused arguing on grounds of parity and delay in trial, the court posted the matter for further hearing on December 6 after hearing them partly on Monday. Accused Umar Khalid’s bail plea, though not taken up on Monday, is due to be heard on December 6 too.

Two more bail pleas have been kept for hearing on December 12.

Accused Gulfisha Fatima, the only woman in the case in jail to date; Abdul Khalid Saifi of United Against Hate; Athar Khan; Shifa Ur Rehman; and Mohd Saleem Khan, arguing for bail before the bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur, were among those to preliminarily raise grounds of parity with other accused and the delay in trial as grounds for bail, while foregoing arguments on merits for the time being.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Fatima, submitted before the bench, “I’m not going to argue on merits… (she is) on bail in three other cases related to (anti-CAA/NRC) protests… (she is the) only woman in custody, four others (co-accused) have been granted bail. (Fatima is) entitled to bail on parity… (Co-accused) Devangana (Kalita) and Natasha (Narwal) with identical or greater roles, have been granted bail.”

Pointing out that for the role ascribed in the offence, Fatima’s co-accused have been granted bail and that the “possibility of a trial is not there in the near future”, Sibal added that while the “plea of parity is a narrow one”, the “larger plea is I’ve been in jail for over four-and-half years.”

While Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad emphasised that with the offence alleging larger conspiracy, individual roles have to be gone into, Justice Chawla orally remarked that the same can be gone into at the stage of the trial. Justice Chawla also orally inquired if there were allegations against Fatima of “actual participation in the riots”, to which Sibal replied in the negative.

Senior advocate Rebecca John, appearing for Saifi, submitted that three FIRs were lodged against him in relation to the 2020 riots, of which he has been discharged in one and granted bail in another. Arguing that he is on a better footing than others who have been granted bail in the case, John added, “Several members stated to be the mastermind have not been arrested till date, administrators (of WhatsApp groups), other active members (of WhatsApp groups) have not been arrested, they (prosecution) have selectively picked and chosen members to foist this case against us.”

Senior advocate Salman Khurshid, appearing for Shifa Ur Rehman, similarly canvasing grounds of parity and delay in trial, compared Rehman’s role with two other co-accused — Asif Iqbal Tanha and Kalita. Khurshid added that Rehman faces no other FIR and that it is “surprising that someone who participated in protests has been put through such rigors.”

The accused seeking bail before the Delhi HC are facing allegations of pre-planned conspiracy to allegedly cause riots in Northeast Delhi between February 23 and 25, 2020, with offences lodged under the IPC, Prevention of Damage to Public Property (PDPP) Act, Arms Act, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 (UAPA). An FIR was registered by the Delhi Crime Branch in March 2020 in this regard with the investigation being undertaken by the Special Cell.

Notably, the bail pleas of Saifi, Fatima, Rehman and Md Saleem Khan have been argued fully by their lawyers twice before two different benches of the HC, but no verdict was delivered. This is the third time they’ll be arguing for bail before the Delhi HC.