No CCTV, no CDR, co-accused with graver charges got bail: HC grants bail

New Delhi: Noting that the accused is "neither seen in the CCTV footage nor his call detail record (CDR) matches," the Delhi High Court on Friday granted bail to a man accused of murder during the north-east Delhi riots earlier this

February. The court of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait, in his order, also observed that the other co-accused in the case "whose role as per the chargesheet is much graver than the petitioner herein," have been released on bail despite the fact that "they are seen in the CCTV footage and their CDR also matched with each other."

"…whereas in the case of petitioner, neither his CDR matches nor he is seen in the CCTV footage," the court observed.

The present case pertains to the Kardampuri Area where a "riotous mob" allegedly killed one Deepak. The accused, Shahrukh alias Rinku, represented by Advocate Salim Malik, has been alleged of being part of the mob.

Granting him bail on a personal bond of Rs. 30, 000, the court also said that the statement of public witness Sunil identifying him was recorded on February 25 and the statement of other witnesses who claim to be eye-witnesses were recorded on March 12 whereas the incident took place on February 25.

Over the last six months, scores of accused in the over 750 cases filed by the Delhi Police in the north-east Delhi riots, have been granted bail by multiple courts on grounds that the investigation against them was shoddy and the evidence was not of any consequence.

In many cases, the accused was not seen in any CCTV footage nor did any public witness identify them, however, they were arrested and charged based on police "eyewitnesses" who recorded their statements weeks, sometimes months after the alleged crime took place.

In addition to this, one other case saw Delhi Police claiming a Muslim man to be Hindu and charged him with murdering his own uncle.