Feb riots: HC calls for trial court record over plea against ex-Cong councillor Ishrat Jahan

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday summoned trial court records over a plea against the bail granted to former Congress councillor Ishrat Jahan in a terror case related to February 2020 riots.

A bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur, “Let the TCR (trial court record) be called for in digital form.

The court posted the plea, filed in 2022, against Jahan’s bail on July 18.

Jahan, along with several others, was booked under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in the case for being the “masterminds” of the February 2020 riots, which left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.

The violence erupted during the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019, and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Delhi Police alleged the trial court order granting bail to Jahan on March 14, 2022 was perverse, against the law and failed to take into account the gravity of the offence and the evidence which suggested that the violence erupted following the conspiracy hatched by her and the other accused persons.

“The trial court lost sight to the fact that several people had lost their lives in these riots and disturbed the even tempo of life and be prejudicial to the public order apart from undermining national security, their effect was not confined to a few individuals but impacted a wide spectrum of public,” the appeal said.

The appeal claimed the “disruptive chakka-jam” done by the accused persons was a terrorist act and “general disenchantment was sought to be created affecting the security of state.” On March 14, 2022, the trial court said Jahan prima facie persuaded the court to grant her the relief of bail despite the embargoes in law.

Referring to the chargesheet and the statement of witnesses, it said Jahan neither “created the idea of chakka-jam” nor was she a member of any of the incriminating WhatsApp groups or organisations.

She was involved in the protest site in Khureji area which was not located in the epicentre of violence and she was neither physically present in northeast Delhi for riots nor has her name cropped up in the flurry of calls or in any CCTV footage or in any conspiratorial meetings, it added.

Alongside Jahan, activists Khalid Saifi, Umar Khalid, JNU students Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, and others, including ex-AAP councillor Tahir Hussain, face UAPA charges in the case.