Police theory conjecture, not based on scientific fact: HC grants bail to three

New delhi: Observing that there is no direct or circumstantial or forensic evidence of the three accused persons being allegedly involved in killing one Shahid and that "it is hard to believe that a communal riot can be used by the petitioners to cause death of the person of their own community", the Delhi High court granted bail to three persons on Friday in connection with the north-east Delhi riots last year.

The case pertains to the death of Shahid, who police has claimed died after he received gunshot injuries as a result of firing and stone pelting from the roof-top of three buildings like Saptarishi, Ispat and Alloy Private Limited, among others.

A single-judge bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait, after perusal of the deceased's postmortem report, stated that the prosecution has used the word "possibility" regarding the gunshot wound being from firing from a close-range "then how can they be sure that it is a close-range shot when they are already mentioning that this is a 'possibility' but not surety or certainty".

"...there is no blackening, singeing or tattooing seen around the wound which established the fact that neither it was a contact wound nor a short-distance wound," the court said.

Stating that the theory of the gunshot being fired from close-range is "just a conjecture of the investigating agency and is not based on scientific fact", the court also said that in case it was fired from close-range then the bullet would have gone straight, rather than entering the body from left side and exiting from right side and that too downwards.

Granting bail to Junaid, Chand Mohd and Irshad, represented by Advocate Salim Malik, Justice Kait stated that there is no direct, circumstantial or forensic evidence against the petitioners whatsoever. "Neither there was any motive whatsoever either for them or for any other person allegedly present on the roof of Saptarishi building, to commit the offence, nor has the prosecution alleged any motive in the entire case," the

order read.

The judge went on to add that it was hard to believe that the three accused will kill members of their own community when it is an admitted case of the prosecution that "the petitioners actually let go off the witnesses of the different community and asked them to leave the scene of crime to save their lives...before climbing on the rooftop of Saptarishi building".