HC creates 3 more courts to expedite trial of pending UAPA cases in Delhi

The court, on the administrative side, last month decided to shift five Courts of Metropolitan Magistrate (Negotiable Instru-ments Act) in New Delhi district to Rouse Avenue Court Complex because of non-availability of courtrooms at Patiala House Court. Post the shifting, three new ASJ courts — ASJ-05, ASJ-06 and ASJ-07 — are being created in New Delhi.

ASJ-02 and ASJ-03 will continue to deal with the NIA Act cases, including those related to UAPA. “All other cases pending before the said two courts of ASJ-02 and ASJ-03 be immediately withdrawn and assigned to the newly created ASJ courts by the Principal District and Sessions Judge, New Delhi, while ensuring equitable distribution,” the administration said in an affidavit.

Further, the HC has also decided that the newly created ASJ-05 court will be designated to try sessions cases investigated by the Special Cell of Delhi Police. The court of Principal and Sessions Judge, New Delhi, which is also the designated court for the trial of NIA cases, has been asked to transfer “such number of cases under the NIA Act pending in his court to the court of ASJ-03 so as to facilitate their expeditious disposal”.

As per a report placed before the court in December, 37 cases are pending before NIA courts, 141 people are in custody and more than 3,855 witnesses have been cited by the prosecuting agency.

Justice Gupta on December 17 had said, “Offences being serious and many a times involving foreign nationals, bails are not granted easily and thus it is paramount that offences under the UAPA, whether investigated by NIA or by Special Cell, are tried by special designated courts expeditiously who have no other matters listed before it so that the trials can be expedited.”

The undertrial’s petition stated that there are only two courts in Delhi notified as designated ones for trials under the NIA Act, resulting in delay in proceedings. The petition, filed through advocates Kartik Murukutla and Abu Bakr Sabbaq, seeks a direction to ensure that the special courts under Section 11 of the NIA Act deal exclusively with cases being probed by the central agency.

The petitioner Manzer Imam was arrested in 2013 in a case related to alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives, including the group’s founder Yasin Bhatkal. The chargesheet was filed in February 2014, but they are yet to be framed by the court, as per Imam’s petition. A total of 24 persons are accused in the case.

In some cases before NIA courts, the accused have been in custody since 2013 and in a majority of them, they were arrested prior to 2020.