Delhi Riots- "Their Presence Near Crime Spot 'Natural': Delhi Court Grants Bail To Two Accused

The Karkardooma Court on Thursday (04th March) granted bail to two persons (Mohd Shariq and Mohd Shahzad) in a case related to February 2020 Northeast Delhi Riots, noting that their presence near the Crime spot was "but natural". Significantly, while noting that if accused Imran is absconding, he will suffer consequences and not the applicants, the Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat said, "The accused/ applicant resides in the vicinity of the scene of the crime and therefore him being present near the scene of the crime is but natural…The investigation against the accused is complete and the charge-sheet has been filed in the Court." Facts in brief As per the prosecution, initially on 26th February 2020, an FIR under Section 143/144/147/148/149/323/307/302 IPC was registered and there were three deceased namely Ishtiyak Khan, Prem Singh and Muddashir. Later, three separate FIRs were registered. The instant FIR was registered on 21st March 2020 regarding the said incident in which deceased Prem Singh was killed in front of C-12, Yamuna Vihar, Delhi. The present case pertains to the killing of deceased Prem Singh on 25th February 2020 and there are two witnesses who identified accused persons Imran and Asif. As per the prosecution, Imran was identified as a person who had held Prem Singh and Asif as the ones who stabbed Prem Singh. The accused/applicants were alleged to have been identified by three witnesses through the CAF form and they were arrested on 02nd November 2020 i.e. after the period of eight months of the registration of the FIR. The applicants' role is that of participation in the unlawful assembly also constituting of accused Imran and Asif and thereby murder by way of imputation u/s. 149 IPC. Court's observations The Court noted that in the instant case, FIR was registered on 21st March 2020 and the applicants were arrested almost after the expiry of seven months from the date of FIR in the present case on 03rd November 2020 on the basis of being identified by the witnesses namely Manish Pahawa, Pramod Kumar and Ashok Jain through the CAF forms. Further, the Court observed that though witnesses are there, yet no judicial test identification parade was conducted and the identification had taken place on the basis of black and white photographs of the applicant/accused on the CAF forms. Also, holding that if accused Imran is absconding, he will suffer consequences and not applicant, the Court said, "The accused/ applicant resides in the vicinity of the scene of crime and therefore him being present near the scene of crime is but natural…The investigation against the accused is complete and the charge-sheet has been filed in the Court." In view of the facts and circumstances of the case, the bail application under section 439 Cr.P.C of the applicants were allowed. Accordingly, applicants were admitted to bail on their furnishing Bail bond in the sum of Rs.15,000/- with one surety of the like amount to the satisfaction of Ld. MM/Link MM/Duty MM. Click Here To Download OrderRead Order

Delhi Riots- "Their Presence Near Crime Spot 'Natural': Delhi Court Grants Bail To Two Accused

Sparsh Upadhyay

The accused/ applicant resides in the vicinity of the scene of the crime and therefore him being present near the scene of the crime is but natural: Delhi Court

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