Delhi riots: HC to hear appeal by cops against bail to Ishrat Jahan

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday said it will hear the Delhi Police's plea challenging the bail granted to former Congress councillor Ishrat Jahan in a case concerning a larger conspiracy behind the February 2020 riots in the city on July 27. A bench of justices Siddharth Mridul and Rajnish Bhatnagar said the appeal of the investigating agency, which assails the trial court order of March 14, be listed on July 27 along with the bail plea of co-accused Umar Khalid.

"List along with...on the same day, that is, July 27," the bench said.

Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad had earlier told a single-judge bench, before which the appeal was initially listed, that since the plea concerns offences under the UAPA, it should be heard by a division bench in accordance with the law.

He had further informed the court that the bench headed by Justice Mridul was already hearing Khalid's bail plea, after which the judge had said, "Subject to orders of the chief justice, proceedings of the present criminal appeal with all its applications be listed for hearing before the division bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar on July 11."

In the appeal, police said the trial court order granting bail to Jahan was perverse, against the law and failed to take into account the gravity of the offence and the evidence which suggested that the violence in northeast Delhi erupted pursuant to a conspiracy hatched by her and the other co-accused.

The appeal said the trial court "lost sight of the fact that several people had lost their lives in these riots", which "disturbed the even tempo of life" and were "prejudicial to the public order".

"The trial court lost sight of the fact that the respondent being 'closely connected' with the other conspirators, played a very active role in the entire conspiracy of organising the so-called protest at the protest site, which resulted in riots, killing numerous people, besides injuries and destruction of property," the appeal said.