Delhi riots: Court dismisses bail plea of law student
New Delhi: A Delhi court Tuesday dismissed a bail application of an accused, arrested in two cases related to communal violence in north east Delhi in February, saying he should have been more vigilant towards his conduct being a law student.
Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Yadav dismissed the bail pleas of Tanveer Malik in cases related to two persons receiving gunshot injuries during the riots in Dayalpur area on February 25.
Ajay (aged about 30 years) and Prince (19) received gunshot injuries during the communal violence.
The court said Malik has been clearly identified to be part of riotous mob by prosecution witnesses Prashant, Harish Chander, Kuldeep Bansal, Constable Pawan, Constable Saudan in both the cases.
It is apparent on record that the injured and public witnesses are persons from the same locality. The applicant (Malik), if released on bail at this stage, then the possibility of him threatening or intimidating the public witnesses cannot be ruled out.
It makes no difference at this stage that the applicant is entitled to bail just because he is a law student or that his father is a practicing lawyer. In that case, he should have been more vigilant towards his conduct. He is clearly seen involved in at least three cases of rioting, the court said in its order.
During the hearing held through video conferencing, advocate Javed Akhtar, appearing for Malik, told the court that no recovery of any sort has been effected from him and was not visible in any of the CCTV footage.
The advocate further argued that the call detail record location relied upon by the police clearly showed that at or around the place of incident, he was busy talking to his friends and family members.
Malik was initially arrested in another case wherein one Ajay Goswami had suffered gunshot injuries during the riots, his lawyer said.
Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad, appearing for the state, opposed the bail application saying the case was sensitive in nature, which involved the riots around the house of main accused Tahir Hussain.
The public prosecutor further claimed that the accused persons in furtherance of criminal conspiracy committed the act of riots in the area of Khajuri Khas and Dayalpur and a sense of terror was created in the minds of general public.
They not only mobilized the mob into a group of rioters by way of provoking their religious feelings, but also provided logistic support like lathis, dandas, stones, acids, knives, swords, fire arms, pistols, for committing riots in the area and to eliminate the members of other Community, Prasad claimed.
He further said that the CDR of the accused duly showed his presence at the spot on the day of incident and he has been clearly and categorically identified by the injured persons to be a part of the riotous mob, who was allegedly present near the house of Hussain, having a gun in his hand and firing indiscriminately.
The alleged role attributed to Malik in the matter by the witnesses was of indiscriminately firing at the persons belonging to other community and inciting the religious feelings of a particular community so as to cause maximum damage to the persons of other community, the public prosecutor said.
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.
