A Delhi court has dismissed the appliance of student activist Gulfisha Khatoon, arrested under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), seeking statutory bail during a case associated with the communal violence in northeast Delhi in February.
The court also dismissed the applications of Saleem Khan and Tasleem Ahmed, arrested within the case under UAPA, seeking statutory bail.
Khatoon, Khan and Ahmed had sought statutory bail on the grounds that the blotter wasn’t filed within the mandatory period of time of 90 days and therefore the court, which was presently hearing the matter, didn’t have jurisdiction over the case.
Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat said the amount for completion of investigation within the case was extended till Citizenship Day and therefore the blotter was filed on September 16; its cognisance was taken subsequent day.
The court said in its order passed on October 19, that the Delhi supreme court had authorised the sessions court for trial of cases concerning the February riots during which scheduled offences under the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008, were also made out.
Regarding the competence of this court/ undersigned (Sessions Judge Rawat) to affect this matter, an equivalent is without merit…, it said in its order.
During the hearing, advocate Mehmood Pracha, appearing for Khatoon, Khan and Ahmed, argued that no charge-sheet has been filed within the case within 90 days and thus they need to be released on statutory bail.
Gulfisha is in judicial custody within the case since April, and Ahmed and Khan since June.
Special prosecutor Amit Prasad, appearing for the police, opposed the bail pleas saying there was no merit within the applications because the blotter was filed within the extended time.
