2020 Delhi riots: Court dismisses bail plea of Shahrukh Pathan

Shahrukh is accused of pointing a gun at a constable during the February 2020 riots. He sought bail on the grounds of delay in the trial.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Amitabh Rawat of Karkardooma Court dismissed the bail petition of Shahrukh Pathan after hearing the submission of his counsel and the special public prosecutor Anuj Handa.

The court dismissed the bail plea of the conduct of the accused in the jail during two incidents in which he was seen arguing with the jail staff. A mobile phone was also recovered from him.

"The conduct of the accused Shahrukh Pathan, as borne out from the footage played in the courtroom regarding an incident of January 30, 2023 and February 10 and the recovery of the mobile phone is completely unsatisfactory," ASJ Rawat said in the order.

Before parting, the court wants to record that since co-accused Babu Wasim is absconding and proceedings against him were initiated for declaring him as a proclaimed offender, the court order read.

As and when he is declared a proclaimed offender or produced, the court proposes to hold a day-to-day trial in the present case, the court said.

However, the same was not pressed by the counsel for accused and on his request, the same was kept for consideration after the main eye-witnesses have been examined.

It was argued that Shahrukh has been in custody since March 3, 2020, and there has been a delay in investigation by the police for which the accused should not suffer.

It was further argued that Shahrukh was never declared a proclaimed offender in this case but he had only absconded.

Accused Babu Wasim who was declared a proclaimed offender was granted bail by this Court, the counsel argued.

It was also argued that there is a contradiction in the statement of witness Deepak Dahiya recorded before police in the present and another FIR. He did not state about the shooting by the accused at the complainant in another FIR.

Lastly, it was strongly argued that during judicial custody, Shahrukh has been facing threats from Jail officials.

The court limited out that the conduct of the accused is highlighted by the fact that accused Shahrukh Pathan was in High-Risk Prisoners Ward and after the February 10 incident, he was shifted to Special Prisoners Ward which is stated to be equivalent to High-Risk Ward with the attention of camera 24 hours.

The Counsel for the accused had moved an application asking him to be shifted back to High-Risk Ward as he faced threats from Gangsters and other prisoners and the ground taken by the counsel for the accused that he must be kept in High-Risk Ward so that he does not mingle with other prisoners.

Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Anuj Handa opposed the bail application stating that Shahrukh Pathan is the main accused in this case and his bail application has been dismissed by the court as well as by the High Court and the order was not challenged before the Supreme Court.

It was also argued that after the filing of the present bail application, counsel for the accused never argued on the same and kept it pending and he cannot take a plea that bail application has not been decided.

Moreover, there was no delay in the investigation as accused Shahrukh Pathan had himself absconded and with great difficulty, he was apprehended, the SPP argued

There are other accused persons who were arrested in this case namely Ishtiyak Malik alias Guddu, Shamim, Kaleem Ahmed (already convicted), Babu Wasim and Abdul Shehzad, he added.

The present proceedings are stalled due to the fact that co-accused Babu Wasim absconded during trial and the process for declaring him a proclaimed offender was issued against him.

The Special Public Prosecutor opposed the bail application and the grounds of delay in trial by stating that this has been an intentional tactic of the accused where on every date a suggestion was given of a short date but counsel for the accused has taken a longer date due to non-availability and the accused now cannot take this plea.

The SPP had suggested that a day-to-day trial may be started after the next date when the proceedings related to Wasim are completed who has since absconded.

The SPP Handa also pointed out that accused Shahrukh Pathan cannot be compared with co-accused Babu Wasim since he has not been charged with riots in the presentcase but for providing weapons prior to the riots that took place in February 2020 and was a proclaimed offender in this case.

The SPP also stressed that there is no threat to accused Shahrukh Pathan from the jail officials and the CCTV footage, as played in the courtroom, clearly shows that the accused blatantly violated the jail rules and is creating conditions to make-up the fictitious grounds for bail. (ANI)