NEW DELHI: Student activist Gulfisha Fatima, who was accused in the 2020 Delhi riots case, submitted before the Delhi High Court that the witnesses against her gave their statements much later by ‘minimising their own roles.’ All of the witnesses had participated in the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and attended meetings related to the agitation, her counsel submitted while arguing for her bail.
“They have given their statements only when the police started issuing notices to them and they were summoned,” it was further submitted. The prosecution was relying on “unpardoned accused masquerading as witnesses against her", the court was told.
Her counsel also referred to an example of a former witness who was later booked as an accused by the Delhi Police for his role in the riots. They also mentioned her arrest on April 2020 and that she was booked in another FIR a month earlier. The counsel clarified that she was sitting in protest in Jafrabad. “If she had been on the run, she would have been hiding somewhere and not found sitting at a protest site,” he said.