Pritam Pal Singh

It ordered the 25 advocates, who have been engaged as field verification officers for verifying applications for renewal of registration, to start their work “forthwith”.

Justice Suresh Kumar Kait issued the direction on a plea by Sahil Parvez, whose father was shot dead near his home, and Mohd Saeed Salmani, whose mother was lynched inside her house.

The bench was of the view that in light of the National Centre for Disease Control’s sero-survey report and the high rate of false negatives of RAT, “RT-PCR tests, whose numbers are plummeting, should be ramped up”.

As per the petition, Kalita is accused in four FIRs, including one for allegedly participating in protests at Darya Ganj on December 20 last year and two for her alleged role in the anti-CAA Jafrabad sit-in protest in February.

Delhi reported 1,142 new cases and 29 deaths due to Covid on Saturday, taking the total number of cases and fatalities to 1,29,531 and 3,806 respectively.

The court’s observation came after it was informed through Centre’s Standing Counsel Amit Mahajan that Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad has been appointed by the President of India to represent Delhi Police in the matter.

The court observed that “people’s trust in the criminal justice system must rest on surer footing than on pre-trial punishment by keeping accused persons in prison”.

Justice Suresh Kumar Kait said the Delhi Police is “misusing the judicial system” and taking the “system for ride”, despite the fact that their petition seeking cancellation of Farooq’s bail is pending adjudication before it in another petition.

A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad further directed the Director General (Prisons) to conduct an inquiry into the matter and file a status report within three weeks.

The submissions were made before a bench of Justices Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and Asha Menon, who heard a PIL by former RSS ideologue K N Govindacharya, seeking removal of fake news and hate speech from online platforms.

“Don’t you (ICMR) think one month is too long considering the Covid-19 pandemic situation? Why are you giving one month,” a bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Subramonium Prasad observed.

On Thursday, Delhi saw 1,652 new cases, 58 deaths and 1,994 recoveries. The total caseload is now 1,18,645 and the death toll stands at 3,545. The total number of patients recovered/discharged is 97,693.

“... This is an unacceptable stand. If this is the understanding that Delhi Police has, then this must be corrected,” Justice Vibhu Bakhru observed

“This is reprehensible... Are you going to communalise the police, by presenting in this manner...,” Lekhi said, adding that “whatever the opinion may be, the comment has to be civilised.

A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad directed the NCDC, which comes under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, to place before it the report related to the sero survey by Wednesday.

DU had initially proposed to hold the exams from August 17 to September 8. Now, they are set to begin on August 10 and end by August 31.

The averments were made by the Delhi Police in a common preliminary affidavit filed in response to a batch of PILs before the High Court.

The exams will be held in the online Open Book Examinations (OBE) mode "remotely", Delhi University said.

The two applications under CrPC section 156 (3), seeking direction for registration of FIRs, were filed before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at Karkardooma Court.

Kalita (31) had sought directions to the police not to leak allegations about her to the media while investigation was pending.

The HC even threatened to impose costs on the government if they do not address the issue at the earliest, saying “you can’t tell the pregnant woman to wait for 48 hours”.

"The new notification for the conduct of the examinations along with the revised date sheets and other information shall be provided on the official website of the University in due course of time," it added.

As per the petition in court, Kalita is accused in four FIRs, including one for allegedly participating in protests in Darya Ganj on December 20 last year and two for her alleged role in the anti-CAA Jafrabad sit-in protest in February.

The court observed that the couple have no other place to go and are unlikely to get an “alternate accommodation in a hurry especially in trying pandemic times”.