The Delhi High Court on Thursday(29th Feb) questioned the Delhi Police to clarify if its investigation in the UAPA case alleging a larger conspiracy in the 2020 North-East Delhi riots is complete or if any more chargesheets will be filed in the matter.
On March 4, a division bench consisting of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain demanded a statement from Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad on the inquiry.
In this specific case, the prosecution has so far submitted four more chargesheets.
The court said Prasad, “You will tell us whether fifth supplementary chargesheet is going to be filed or not.”
While considering the bail request made by Khalid Saifi, a member of United Against Hate, the judge asked for explanation. For Saifi, Senior Advocate Rebecca John made an appearance. This finished today’s arguments in the bail plea.
Before moving forward with the charges, co-accused Devangana Kalita, Natasha Narwal, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Meeran Haider, and Athar Khan filed applications with the trial court in September of last year. They wanted clarification from the Delhi Police regarding the overall status and conclusion of their investigation into the case.
The trial court’s case is currently ongoing. Against the petitions, the Delhi Police has argued that the accused have no legal right to get an update on the investigation’s overall progress or the estimated time of completion before the case is brought up.
Khalid Saifi, Faizan Khan, Ishrat Jahan, Sharjeel Imam, Safoora Zargar, Saleem Malik, Shifa-ur-Rehman, Shadab Ahamd, and Gulfisha Fatima had argued before the trial court that they would accept the reasons put out by the people who had initiated the contested petitions.
Delhi Police’s Special Cell is looking into FIR 59 of 2020. The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of 1967 and the Indian Penal Code of 1860 both have many offenses under which the case has been lodged.
Asif Iqbal Tanha, Tahir Hussain, Umar Khalid, Khalid Saifi, Isharat Jahan, Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima, Shifa-Ur-Rehman, Shadab Ahmed, Tasleem Ahmed, Saleem Malik, Mohd. Saleem Khan, Athar Khan, Safoora Zargar, Sharjeel Imam, Faizan Khan, and Natasha Narwal are the accusers in this case.
Case Title: Khalid Saifi v. State