New Delhi: Delhi Police on Wednesday opposed the bail pleas of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and others in the Delhi High Court in the 2020 riots case. Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma and special public prosecutor Amit Prasad appearing for Delhi Police said that a delay in trial does not mean a free pass.
Appearing before a bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur, they said the delay should be attributed to the accused persons.
"Trial court record does not suggest any attempt on the part of the prosecution to delay the matter, rather the boot is squarely and surely on the other leg," said Sharma.
Prasad said there were judicial orders of the trial court to show how the matter was delayed at the behest of the accused.
"Arguments on charges are going on. The second accused has concluded submissions.. They wanted a delay of two weeks. Despite day-to-day hearings, accused are not coming forward for arguments," he alleged.
Sharma said the issue of delay had to be balanced with the "complexity" of each case and in cases involving terrorism and the integrity of the state, the adjudication was of a different standard.
While the speedy trial was a necessity, he said, in cases of anti-national activities, long incarceration of the undertrials by itself was not a ground to enlarge them on bail when facts showed their involvement.
Khalid, Imam and others were booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and provisions of the IPC for allegedly being the "masterminds" of the violence, which left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.
During the hearing of bail petitions on January 21, the Delhi High Court objected to the long arguments put forward by Delhi Police and said that it cannot hear the matter endlessly. The court had asked Delhi Police to explain the specific role of the accused because the accused are saying that no charges are made against them.
While challenging the trial court orders refusing bail, Khalid and others cited their long incarceration and parity with other co-accused who were granted bail. Most bail pleas, including the ones by Imam, Gulfisha Fatima and Khalid Saifi, were filed in 2022, and heard by different benches from time to time. Khalid moved the high court in 2024 seeking bail for the second time, after his plea was dismissed by the high court in October 2022.
The matter would continue on February 20.
