NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to cancel the bail granted to Faizan Khan, one of the accused arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UPAPA) in connection with the northeast Delhi riots in February.
A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan rejected the petition filed by Delhi Police challenging the Delhi High Court’s October 23 order granting bail to Khan. According to the high court order, the Delhi Police had submitted that Khan, along with co-accused Asif Iqbal Tanha, was actively involved in executing the preparatory work for the commission of the unlawful and terrorist act executed by the other accused.
They have alleged that Khan had supplied and activated a SIM card, which was registered fraudulently in the name of one Abdul Jabbar, but rather used by the Jamia Coordination Committee, headed by Jamia Millia Islamia student and co-accused Safoora Zargar.
The Delhi Police has claimed Tanha had visited Khan’s shop — where Khan worked as a promoter for Airtel mobile connections — demanded a SIM card on a fake ID to be used during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Two witness statements were also produced to show that Tanha had visited the shop demanding a fake SIM card.
“He (the witness) also stated that accused Faizan Khan told him that SIM card on the fake ID is very essential as the same was to be delivered to Asif Iqbal Tanha, who was fighting for his ‘QUOM’ (community),” the high court order said, referring to the witness statement.
The police’s case, therefore, was that Faizan Khan had deliberately activated this SIM in furtherance of the conspiracy to commit acts leading to the Delhi riots. Khan was later arrested on July 29.
However, Justice Suresh Kumar Kait of the HC had rejected these submissions, asserting that the strict bail provisions under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act would not apply in this case as the police had failed to provide any material to back up their accusations that he had committed terrorism-related offences.