Court grants bail to activist Khalid Saifi, questions charge sheet against him
New Delhi: A court on Wednesday granted bail to activist Khalid Saifi here in a case related to the February riots in northeast Delhi, saying charge-sheeting him over insignificant material was total non-application of mind by the police which went to the extent of vindictiveness.
The court also failed to understand how a "lofty claim" of conspiracy could be inferred from a witness's statement as it merely stated that Saifi, who is a member of United Against Hate, had allegedly met co-accused Tahir Hussain and Umar Khalid on January 8 in Shaheen Bagh, but did not disclose the subject matter of the meeting.
Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Yadav said Saifi cannot be permitted to remain behind bars in this case on the basis of sketchy material against him.
The court granted him bail on furnishing a bail bond of Rs 20,000 with one surety of like amount in the case related to rioting in Khajuri Khas area.
The court noted that if the principal accused, Tahir Hussain, was moved or actuated by Saifi in the meeting, then Saifi should have been made co-accused in ten other cases like Hussain, "which is not the case".
It said the date of recording of the witness's statement, which was September 27, itself spoke volumes about the credibility.
The sole evidence of this so-called conspiracy is a statement of prosecution witness Rahul Kasana, wherein he stated on September 27, 2020, that he was standing outside a building in the area of Shaheen Bagh, where he had dropped principal accused Tahir Hussain, and thereafter he saw applicant and Umar Khalid going into the same building.
"I fail to understand from the statement how a lofty claim of conspiracy can be inferred," the judge said in his order.
In my humble opinion, charge-sheeting the applicant in this case on the basis of such an insignificant material is total non-application of mind by the police which goes to the extent of vindictiveness, the judge said in his order.
The court said it has nowhere been the case of the prosecution that Saifi was physically present at the scene of the crime on the day of the incident and he has not been seen in any CCTV footage/viral videos of the matter.
The applicant (Saifi) has merely been roped in the matter on the basis of his own disclosure statement and the fourth disclosure statement of co-accused Tahir Hussain. Even no recovery of any sort has been effected from the applicant pursuant to his disclosure statement, it said.
Saifi has also been arrested in the case related to a larger conspiracy in the riots and has been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The court noted that the contention that he had been in regular contact with Hussain and Khalid over the mobile phone was hardly of any consequences, as prima facie it did not in any way go on to establish the criminal conspiracy alleged against him in the matter.
In the said case the statement under Section 161 (examination by police) Code of Criminal Procedure of Rahul Kasana was recorded on May 21, 2020, on which date he did not utter a single word against the applicant (Saifi) qua 'criminal conspiracy'...," the court said.
Now all of a sudden, he in his statement recorded "under Section 161 CrPC in the matter on September 27, blew the trumpet of 'criminal conspiracy' against the applicant," it said, adding it prima facie does not appeal to the senses.
It added that the other piece of evidence which was sought to be used against Safi was a 71-second call made by Hussain to him in the intervening night of February 24/25, after the incident in the case had already taken place.
The court said Hussain has been accused in 10 other cases related to rioting but Saifi has been made accused in only two cases, even on the strength of the material that the prosecution showed against him.
I do not find any rationale in the act of police in involving the applicant (Saifi) in this solitary case for the offense of conspiracy," the judge said.
Senior advocate Rebecca John and advocate Harsh Bora, appearing for Saifi, claimed he had been falsely implicated in the case and his call detail records did not establish that he was in any criminal conspiracy with the other accused.
Special Public Prosecutor Manoj Chaudhary, appearing for the police, opposed the bail plea saying Saifi was allegedly part of a large-scale conspiracy hatched by Hussain with other anti-social elements.
United Against Hate was a citizens' campaign launched in 2017 to protest against a series of lynching incidents in the country and was involved in the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Communal violence had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24 after clashes between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiraled out of control leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured.
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'Rear-guard action': BJP over Mamata accepting sports minister's resignation after Messi event
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Tuesday alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's accepting Aroop Biswas' resignation as the state sports minister is nothing but a "rear-guard action" to douse public anger over the mismanagement of football icon Lionel Messi's event last week.
BJP co-in-charge for West Bengal Amit Malviya alleged that this is also an "open confession" that the Messi event fiasco was not accidental but a government-manufactured disaster, borne out of the poor governance of Banerjee, her ministers and the state bureaucracy.
Banerjee on Tuesday accepted Biswas' resignation as the sports minister in the wake of the controversy over the mismanagement of football icon Messi's event last week, a senior leader of the ruling TMC said.
Biswas, who had written to the chief minister seeking to be relieved of his responsibilities as sports minister, will continue as a cabinet minister, retaining charge of the power department.
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Reacting to the development, Malviya said in a post on X, "TMC Sports Minister Aroop Biswas resigns after the Messi fiasco and Mamata Banerjee accepts it in record time."
"Do not mistake this for accountability; this is nothing but a rear-guard action to douse public anger. anger! This is not 'Raj Dharma'," he added.
The BJP leader alleged that the incident was the outcome of "loot" of common people which is "so synonymous" with the TMC.
The incident was also the outcome of the "shameless VIP culture that TMC thrives on and deep-rooted cronyism promoted by Banerjee," he charged.
Malviya further alleged that Biswas' resignation exposes a "collective failure of Mamata Banerjee, her partisan bureaucracy, and her crony cabinet".
"This is a symbolic sacrifice, a political hoax, soon to be buried under layers of bureaucracy, with no justice, no accountability, and no remorse," the BJP leader said, adding, "No resignation will bring back the time lost, the money wasted, or the stolen chance for football lovers to witness Messi in Kolkata."
