The Supreme Court today(July 20) stayed the Delhi High Court's order, which allowed Devangana Kalita, accused in the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case, to inspect electronic evidence collected by the Delhi Police during the investigation but not relied upon by the prosecution.

It may be recalled that on June 6, Justice Neena Bansal Krishna of the Delhi High Court dismissed Kalita's plea seeking videos of the CAA-NRC protests and WhatsApp chats relied on by the Delhi police against her due to the sensitive information involved. However, the judge allowed her to inspect the un-relied documents stored in police custody.

This order was challenged by the Delhi Police before the Supreme Court. Before a bench comprising Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Alok Aradhe, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju submitted that in two judgments of the Court - Debendra Nath Padhi and Sarla Gupta - clearly held that the accused is not entitled to inspect unrelied documents at the stage of framing of charge. Raju stated that seeking to inspect unrelied documents at this stage is nothing but a tactic to delay the trial.

Kalitha's advocate submitted that they sought access to a video which shows that she was protesting peacefully. He stated that if there is clear evidence that she didn't throw the stones, she should be discharged.

He said: "I wanted a copy of the videos which show we were peacefully protesting. Every learned judge who has seen those videos has said we are peaceful witnesses. If the videos show I am protesting, and they have not given me where, is the question of saying I was throwing stones? If I am sitting peacefully, I should be discharged; why should I go through the trial?"

However, Justice Kumar said it may be a defence at the stage of trial, but these arguments can't be considered before it.

Hearing both parties, Justice Kumar said: "You are not entitled to; that is what it[Sarla Gupta judgment] says. There shall be stay of the impugned order. You see that Gulfisha [judgment], you will not conclude your arguments even before another 10 years and you say there is a delay in trial."

Kalitha was granted bail by the Delhi High Court in June 2021, along with co-accused Asif Iqbal Tanha and Natasha Narwal. The order was upheld by the Supreme Court in May 2023 as the Delhi Police's challenge was dismissed. In August 2023, the Trial Court refused to provide the entire CCTV footage of the North-East Delhi area and WhatsApp chats of groups of police officials to Kalita in the UAPA case.

Case Details: STATE NCT OF DELHI Vs DEVANGANA KALITA|SLP(Crl) No. 12447/2026 Diary No. 38990 / 2026