New Delhi (TIP): The Delhi Police on Thursday, Feb 4, informed the Delhi high court that 43 FIRs have been registered in the Republic Day violence, out of which 13 have been transferred to the special cell.
A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh was told by the police, represented by Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, that provisions of UAPA have also been invoked in some cases involving banned organization “Sikhs for Justice” and investigations is on. The submissions were made while hearing a plea seeking a probe into the violence during farmers’ tractor rally on Republic Day and the alleged lapse in security, which resulted in a religious flag being hoisted at the Red Fort. The court declined to hear the plea and asked the petitioners, three Uttar Pradesh residents, to withdraw the petition or face costs. It said that a crime can happen in a fraction of seconds but the investigation takes time, while adding that it was to analyse the mindset of such petitions.
“So you started typing the petition right after the incident on January 26 noon? Do you know how much time is given for investigation under the Criminal Procedure Code? You are a lawyer. How much time is given for an investigation?” “You expect the investigations to be completed within two days of the incident? Does the government have a magic wand which it will wave and everything will be done? Should we dismiss it with cost or will you withdraw,” the bench asked advocate Vivek Narayan Sharma, appearing for the petitioner.
Man arrested for R-Day violence gets bail
A Delhi court has granted bail to a man arrested for allegedly being part of unlawful assembly and conducting riots in the Uttam Nagar area during the tractor rally on Republic Day. The court stated that “no fruitful purpose would be served by curtailing the liberty of the accused”.
Additional sessions judge Dheeraj Mor, while granting bail to one Sandeep Kumar, said that the Investigating officer’s report is “conspicuously silent” about his previous criminal involvement.
“Therefore, there is no reason to doubt the submissions on behalf of the accused that he has clear antecedents. He is no more required for the investigation of this case. In the aforesaid circumstances, no fruitful purpose will be served by further curtailing the liberty of the accused,” the judge said in his order of February 3.
The judge also noted that co-accused Gurvinder Singh, with the similar allegations as that of the accused, was released by the police after giving a notice. Kumar, through his counsel, advocate Kapil Chaudhary, had contended his client was falsely implicated in this case and he was just a bystander at the spot of occurrence. He said that Kumar was neither part of the unlawful assembly nor he was involved in the riots. The counsel said that Kumar owns a shop of iron rods at Kakrola, Dwarka Mor, New Delhi and he was not part of any agitation.
However, opposing the bail application, additional public prosecutor Satvinder Kaur, told the court that the accused was part of unlawful assembly that committed riots and caused injuries to nine police personnel. She said that the members of the unlawful assembly also damaged the public property including the cluster buses.
The police had earlier released a list of over 120 arrestees after allegations that several protestors were illegally detained without even informing their families.
Advocate Harpreet Singh Hora said that their legal team has been providing legal aid since the first day of the arrests of several farmers and this type of orders give them hope.
“Additionally, the bail reinforces our faith that the people who have been wrongly implicated in these cases shall get justice. What we are doing is upholding the law and we will strive to fight cases of these farmers till this reaches a logical conclusion,” he said. Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, are protesting at various border points of Delhi for over two months now against the three farm laws.
The tractor parade on January 26 that was to highlight the demands of farmer unions to repeal three new agri laws dissolved into anarchy on the streets of the national capital as thousands of protesters broke through barriers, fought with the police, overturned vehicles and hoisted a religious flag from the ramparts of the iconic Red Fort.
(Source: HT)