Umar Khalid withdraws bail plea from SC, to ‘try luck in trial court’

However, in Delhi’s district courts, the trial in the case is unlikely to begin anytime soon. Sources told The Indian Express that in four years since the riots, the Delhi Police has filed four chargesheets and has indicated that the investigation is still on.

Apart from Khalid, who is accused of a larger conspiracy, the other accused include Devangana Kalita, Natasha Narwal, Asif Iqbal Tanha, AAP councillor Tahir Hussain; Khalid Saifi; ex-Congress councillor Ishrat Jahan; Safoora Zargar; Sharjeel Imam; Meeran Haider; Gulfisha Fatima; Shifa-Ur-Rehman; Shadab Ahmed; Tasleem Ahmed; Saleem Malik; Mohd. Saleem Khan; Athar Khan; and Faizal Khan. While Tanha, Narwal and Kalita are out on bail, the other 14 accused have been in jail for the past 4 years.

It is learnt that the lawyers appearing for Kalita and Narwal have moved an application to start hearing to frame charges only after the police investigation is complete. Based on the chargesheet, the court frames charges and it is at this stage that an accused can be discharged.

Hearing on the arguments on charges against the 17 accused in the case began in Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat’s court in Karkardooma on September 11, 2023 but was then adjourned after the application. The Indian Express had reported in September 2023 that Advocate Sowjhanya Shankaran, representing Tanha, had argued in the court that the accused must be made aware of the concrete charges against them.

“When my defence gets disclosed during arguments, they fill that hole using my arguments and file a different chargesheet,” she said.

Shankaran said that it was unfair to file a supplementary chargesheet merely to fill loopholes in the investigation during the stage of charge.