Delhi riots: Court seeks police reply on 'leak' of charge sheet against Khalid to media
New Delhi: A court here on Thursday sought a reply from the police as to how the copy of a supplementary charge sheet, filed against former JNU student leader Umar Khalid in a north-east Delhi riots case, was allegedly leaked to the media even before the accused or his counsel got it.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Dinesh Kumar directed Delhi Police to file the reply by January 14 on how the charge sheet was allegedly leaked to the media before the court took cognizance of it.
Khalid's plea said that the allegations in the supplementary charge sheet and its dissemination by the media were allegedly false and malicious and compromised his right to a fair trial.
He had earlier alleged that the media was conducting a vicious media campaign against him and sought the court's directions to the police on how the media got the charge sheet even before he or his counsel got it.
During Thursday's hearing, Khalid said: As I had mentioned earlier, even before the charge sheet was supplied to me, it was already in the public domain, and media was reporting from it. I got to know from news reports that the charge sheet made mention of a disclosure statement by me and based on that so-called disclosure statement, media had reported that I had admitted my role.
"When I got the charge sheet, it is written below my so-called disclosure statement 'refused to sign'. Despite that it is leaked and then it is reported like this.
This is not the first time. It has happened before too. A thing first comes in the public domain in an unprofessional way and then it comes to the courtroom. When I read these reports in jail, it causes me deep anguish. I don't expect this to be the last time also on the part of the police. This has been done in other cases too. My only hope rests with you to ensure that these kinds of practices don't happen again, " Khalid claimed.
He further said that the charge sheets mentioned certain videos that have not been supplied to him.
To this, the judge asked his counsel to make a list of all the deficient documents and inform the court on the next date of hearing.
The court also asked the investigating officer to inform the court about the details of the videos and why they have not been supplied to the accused.
Though Khalid's application, moved on January 4 had sought the immediate supply of the charge sheets to him so that he can issue clarifications or guard himself against any unfair publicity, his counsel told the court on Thursday that since they have been supplied with the charge sheets, the immediacy of the plea has passed.
Khalid's application stated The charge sheet has not been provided to the accused. However, it is amply evident from several news reports, both print and television, that the charge sheet has been leaked to the media. Certain portions of the print and television media have been citing purported segments of the supplementary charge sheet to convey that the accused has inter alia admitted to having conspired to fuel the northeast Delhi riots of February 2020, and to have involved children and women in organizing chakka jams.
It further said: It is respectfully submitted that for reasons outlined in the present application, the purported allegations as well as its dissemination by the media, are false, malicious, and severely compromise the accused's right to a fair trial.
It said that none of the news reports include that the contents of the charge sheet are mere allegations at this stage.
It claimed there was no clarification that disclosure statements made in police custody are wholly inadmissible in evidence and have no basis in law.
"It is nothing short of vilification campaign based on wholly false and malicious assertions aimed at eroding the accused's right to a fair trial, it alleged.
Khalid was arrested in the case in October last year for allegedly conspiring with suspended AAP Councillor Tahir Hussain, co-accused in the matter, to fuel riots in the Khajuri Khas area.
Communal violence had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24 last year after clashes between the Citizenship (Amendment) Act supporters and protesters spiraled out of control leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
