High Court Seeks Police Response On Accused Plea Seeking Bail In Delhi Riots Larger Conspiracy Case

The Delhi High Court on Friday issued notice on the bail pleas filed by two accused persons in relation to the 2020 North-East Delhi riots larger conspiracy case.

A division bench comprising Justice Prathiba M Singh and Justice Madhu Jain issued notice on the bail pleas filed by accused Athar Khan and Saleem Malik.

The Bench sought response of the Delhi Police and directed that status reports be filed within two weeks.

The counsel appearing for Salim Malik said that the allegations against his client is identical to co accused Salim Khan and Shadab Ahmed who were recently granted bail by the Supreme Court.

Athar Khan's counsel also made similar submission, saying that her client should be enlarged on bail on grounds of parity with Salim Khan.

On the other hand, Advocate Dhruv Pande said that the submission that the accused are similarly placed to those granted bail may not be correct.

While issuing notice in the matter, the Court requisitioned the trial court record and clarified that no adjournment shall be granted in the matters on the next date.

The accused have challenged the trial court order passed on January 29 denying them bail in the UAPA case.

The accused, who were student activists in the forefront of organising anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests in 2019-2020, are facing charges under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the Indian Penal Code for allegedly formulating the "larger conspiracy" behind the communal riots which took place in the national capital in the last week of February 2020.

The accused in the case are Tahir Hussain, Umar Khalid, Khalid Saifi, Isharat Jahan, Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima, Shifa-Ur-Rehman, Asif Iqbal Tanha(granted bail in 2021), Shadab Ahmed, Tasleem Ahmed, Saleem Malik, Mohd. Saleem Khan, Athar Khan, Safoora Zargar(granted bail on humanitarian grounds as she was pregnant when arrested), Sharjeel Imam, Faizan Khan, Devangana Kalita (granted bail) and Natasha Narwal(granted bail).

Title: Saleem Malik v. State