Delhi HC grants bail to two accused in Delhi riots case

new delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday granted bail to two men accused of rioting and vandalism during the north-east Delhi riots this February, their lawyer said.

The accused, one Arshad Qayyum alias Monu and Mohd Rehan alias Arshad Pradhan, besides rioting, have been booked by the police under several sections of the Indian Penal Code.

Appearing before a Single Judge Bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait, lawyer Dinesh Tiwari, representing both the accused, questioned the logic behind the time between the date of the incident, i.e., February 25 and that of filing of the complaint, on March 4.

"The police have based their case on a bunch of public and police witnesses who claim to have been on the spot on the day of the incident so what explains them not reporting it to the police on that day itself," Tiwari asked.

The court took note of this while granting bail to both of them, he added. "There is also no CCTV footage or video recording that has been placed by the prosecution on record which makes the case against them even weaker," Tiwari claimed.

In the First Information Report filed at the Dayalpur Police Station, one complainant Zeeshan, a resident of New Mustafabad, has alleged that on February 25, his shop situated at Sherpur Chowk was vandalized while items inside it like cupboards and sofas were destroyed by unknown miscreants, in turn causing him damage of Rs 20 lakh. However, the order copy was yet to be made public at the time of writing.