Court Grants Bail To Accused In Two Cases Related To Delhi Riots

A Delhi court has granted bail to a man in two cases related to the February riots in north east Delhi, saying the present investigation on both the matters left "lot to be desired."

Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat granted the relief to Ajay on furnishing a bail bond of Rs 20,000 with one surety of like amount each in the two cases of vandalism and burning of shops in Jyoti Nagar during the communal violence.

The court said as per the statement of witness Mohd Aslam, the accused was arrested at his instance from near Neet Nagar, Railway Line bushes, but as per the arrest memo, his place of arrest was Jyoti Nagar Police Station.

It further said the statement of Aslam referred to one Car Accessories Shop in Ashok Nagar area which was burned, but there does not appear to be any identification by him of the shop in question in the FIR.

"Strangely, there is supplementary statement of the witness Md Aslam recorded on the same day as the main statement, that is April 18, 2020, as per which, he led the police to near Neet Nagar, Railway Line bushes and pointed out to accused persons Ajay and Gaurav Panchal as having been involved in riots on February 25, 2020 and thus, two accused persons were arrested at his instance.

"The look at the arrest memo of the accused Ajay shows Mohd Aslam as one of the witness. However, the place of arrest is not a public place as mentioned in his supplementary statement but Police Station Jyoti Nagar itself... The investigation in the present case leaves a lot to be desired," the court said in its similar order passed in the cases.

The court noted that statement of Mohd Aslam was recorded on April 18 but the incident was of February 25.

It said there was no CCTV footage against the accused in the cases. The court directed him not to tamper with evidence or leave Delhi without its permission.

During the hearing, advocate Arti Gupta, appearing for Ajay, said Aslam was a witness against him in several cases, which were pertaining to different locations and the accused cannot be involved in rioting at different places at the same time.

Arti Gupta further submitted that there was no evidence, no public witness or CCTV footage against the accused in the cases.

Special Public Prosecutor Rajeev Krishan Sharma, appearing for the police, opposed the bail pleas saying Ajay was allegedly an active member of the unlawful assembly which vandalised and set the shop of Javed Khan and Gufam on fire on February 25.

Communal clashes had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24 after violence between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled out of control leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured.

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