NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has set aside the bail granted to an accused who was allegedly part of a mob accused of stone-pelting during a demolition exercise near the Faiz-e-Elahi mosque in Turkman Gate recently. The high court said the accused, a street vendor, was granted bail through a “cryptic and unreasoned” order.
Justice Prateek Jalan passed the order while remanding the case to the trial court for reconsideration.
The judge said while the court was “extremely cautious” in interfering with liberty granted to an individual, this was an “exceptional” case.
The trial court had granted bail to Ubedullah on January 20. In an order passed on January 21, the high court said the trial court did not adequately address the arguments of the prosecution, and that even a prima facie or brief analysis of the factors which govern adjudication of bail was absent. “The impugned order is set aside for want of adequate reasons and remanded to the sessions court,” the HC said.
The high court noted that in its arguments before the trial court, the prosecution had largely relied on CCTV footage and the disclosure of a co-accused, which alleged that Ubedullah was part of a violent crowd that obstructed police, indulged in stone-pelting and caused damage to public property. The trial court, however, ordered the release of the accused after noting that his counsel’s argument that the entire case against him was ‘a fishing expedition’.
The case pertains to the violence that occurred during an anti-encroachment drive near the mosque in the Ramlila Maidan area on the intervening night of January 6 and 7.
The police said around 150-200 people hurled stones and glass bottles at the police and MCD personnel, injuring six policemen, including the area’s station house officer.
Also in court
Lokpal gets 2 months in Mahua Moitra case
The Delhi High Court on Friday granted two more months to the Lokpal to consider as per law whether to grant sanction to the CBI to file a chargesheet against TMC MP Mahua Moitra in the alleged cash-for-query scam. The high court bench passed the order on a plea moved by the Lokpal, while clarifying that “no further request for extension of time would be entertained”.
BMW run over: Court takes cognisance
A Delhi court has taken cognisance of a chargesheet filed in the case of BMW running over a 52-year-old finance ministry official, Navjot Singh last September. The judge said there was sufficient evidence on record to proceed against the accused in the case. Delhi Police said in its chargesheet that the accused deliberately took the victim to a distant hospital.