Delhi Police has been clearly told by the Delhi High Court that they cannot endlessly argue against the bail petitions filed by accused in Delhi riots conspiracy case.
A Division Bench comprising of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Manoj Jain remarked that dealing with bail petitions and arguments in such petitions cannot go on forever as there has been no appeals against conviction or acquittal but only bail.
The Court has said that the prosecution needs to clearly come up with the role played by each of the accused in a given time frame.
The Court said that they cannot read 7000 pageand the prosecution needs to understand that unlimited time cannot be given.
The Court said that the prosecution needs to come up with the cospiracy that took place along withevery person’s role. Summarise your arguments.
The Court stressed that it will consider the bail application on merits and parity only.
The bench said that we only need to see the matter on merits. If the accused fail to make a case on merits, we will consider them on parity. If they fail on parity also, we will dismiss the bail. But we cannot hear it for days.
These remarks were made by the Court made these while hearing the bail plea filed by accused Khalid Saifi.
The case for Saifi was represented by Senior Advocate Rebecca John who argued and concluded her arguments.
Amit Prasad the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) then began his submissions for the Delhi Police.
The SPP mentioned that the chats of the WhatsApp groups and said that the records in the case are voluminous.
The Bench remarked that he was only referring to “matchsticks and not the fire”.
The judges said “Chhoti chhoti maachis jali hui dikha rahe ho aap. Aag dikhao na (You are only referring to small matchsticks. Show us the fire), meaning we want the crux of the matter and not pointers.
The bench said that they wants to see what Saifi’s role was and how he contributed to the conspiracy.
SPP Prasad said that he will summarise his arguments, make a convenience compilation and then address the court.
The court has now adjourn the case and called for the case diary.
The High Court is seized of a batch of bail petitions in the Delhi riots conspiracy case. The cases are being re-argued since Justice Siddharth Mridul, who was earlier hearing the petitions, was elevated as the Chief Justice of Manipur High Court.
After Justice Mridul’s transfer the matter had to be heard afresh by bench of Justice Kait.