‘Trial in 2020 Delhi riots case still not held’: Prashant Bhushan, Yogendra Yadav join protest at Jantar Mantar

The petitions were last listed before a bench of Justices Arvind Kumar and N V Anjaria on September 12 but the court pointed out that the supplementary list by which the case was listed reached it very late, at 2.30 am, indicating that it did not have enough time to go through the files.

Earlier this month, the Delhi High Court had denied bail to the 10 accused who have been booked under relevant provisions of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code.

Bail is the rule while jail is the exception, Bhushan asserted at Jantar Mantar, calling the delay in the grant of the bail to the accused “unfortunate”.

“I am most hurt by seeing the attitude of the judiciary. Their work is to protect our fundamental rights, democracy and the Constitution. But in the Delhi riots case… the trial has not started even in five years. The Delhi High Court took more than a year for bail hearings,” Bhushan said.

Yogendra Yadav said, “When the trial was against Mahatma Gandhi, it was not only against him but against the British atrocities inflicted on Indians. This ongoing trial is not just on these 10 people but against India’s criminal justice system.”

The protesters demonstrated along with the posters of the accused — Tahir Hussain, Athar Khan, Meeran Haider, Umar Khalid, Gulfisha Fatima, and Khalid Saifi, among others.

Shamsad Ahmad, accused Shadab Ahmed’s father, said,  “We ask the judiciary to tell us what is the fault of our children?”

Munteha, General Secretary of JNUSU, claimed that “all people behind the bars braved to walk on the path of the Constitution of India”. “They spoke on constitutional rights, spoke against communal laws. These are not individual cases but an attempt to target one section of people and criminalize them,” she said.

Meanwhile, Umar Khalid’s father Syed Qasim Rasool Ilyas said that he and even those behind bars have not lost hope.

“They are still not disheartened. The courage hasn’t faded… the spirit hasn’t weakened,” he said.