NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has asked the Centre, the AAP government and the police on Wednesday to respond to a plea seeking a designated court for speedy trial in a case against 121 Malaysians chargesheeted for attending Markaz at Nizamuddin in the city in alleged violation of visa norms as also government guidelines for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Justice Anup J Bhambhani asked the Delhi government and Delhi Police, represented by standing counsel (criminal) Rahul Mehra and advocate Chaitanya Gosain, to file a status report on the petition filed on behalf of 125 Malaysians in all. As of now, the police have filed charge sheets against 121 of the 125 Malaysian nationals.
The court, which conducted the hearing through video conferencing, also impleaded ministries of home and external affairs, as parties in the petition and asked them to respond as well and listed the matter for further hearing on July 1.
Petitioner Fahrul Naim Bin Mohd Noor said the Malaysian nationals are in the care and custody of the High Commission of Malaysia here and sought direction to establish one designated court to adjudicate upon the charge sheet in an expeditious manner.
The plea, filed by advocate S Hari Haran, said the charge sheets were filed in the competent court and they are listed for further action on June 17 and June 25.
“The Malaysian nationals are stranded in the country away from the kith and kin for almost three months. The High Commission of Malaysia is spending substantial money on maintaining these stranded citizens which could be diverted for other constructive purposes including fighting the pandemic. The subordinate court is likely to take a substantial time to start trying cases in regular courses,” the plea said.
It added that the chargesheeted foreigners be permitted to appear before the trial court through video conferencing.
Meanwhile, 11 Saudi Arabian nationals, who were also chargesheeted by the police in the matter, Wednesday approached the high court seeking direction to the concerned trial court to conduct the proceedings through video conferencing and decide the case expeditiously by giving hearing on day to day basis.
(With PTI inputs)