New Delhi: More than four months after the trial in the Delhi riots 'larger conspiracy" case, involving former JNU student Umar Khalid among 15 others who have been charged under UAPA, was stayed owing to the Delhi Police's objection to providing the accused persons with the hardcopies of the 17,000 page chargesheet, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday vacated the stay on the case after police stated that hardcopies are ready and will be provided to them on March 25 (today).
Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad submitted before the court that complete hardcopy of the chargesheet is ready and the accused persons are at liberty to collect the same from the Trial Court on March 25, which is the next date of hearing.
In view of this, the court headed by a single judge bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait, noted that no further order is required to be passed and the same is, accordingly, disposed of with pending application. "Accordingly, interim order is vacated," the court order read.
The Delhi High Court on November 10 last year had stayed the trial in the case after the police challenged a trial court order which directed it to provide all the accused with hardcopies of the chargesheet filed in the case.
In its petition, police had stated that the document ran into 18,000 pages and that all accused persons had been given copies of the chargesheet in pendrive which sufficiently complied with the provisions under Code of Criminal Procedure.
However, Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat, in his order, had dismissed police's plea ruling that, "even though, it may be desirable to have soft copies of the chargesheet, the law still mandates that a hard copy is to be made available to the accused".
Meanwhile, a Delhi court on Wednesday directed the Superintendent of Tihar Jail to ensure the safety and security aspect of accused Umar Khalid when he enters and returns back from court where he will appear on March 25 (today) in relation to the "larger conspiracy" case. Observing the nature of the case, the court also directed the Jail Superintendent and police personnel to ensure the safety of other co-accused persons who will be produced before the court in relation to the case.