New Delhi, A Delhi court on Wednesday granted bail to six accused in the stone-pelting incident during a demolition exercise near the Faiz-e-Elahi mosque in Turkman Gate last month.
Additional Sessions Judge Bhupinder Singh granted relief to Mohammad Faiz, Mohammad Affan, Shazad, Shahzad, Mohammad Imran, and Mohammad Faheem on a bail bond of ₹50,000 each.
During the hearing, advocates M Asad Beig, M K Malik and others who represented the accused raised the point that the accused could not be seen in the footage as part of the crowd but in scattered patches in corners of the street close to their respective homes.
Most of the accused live within 50-100 metres away from the scene of crime, they said.
Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava presented video evidence of one of the accused calling people to join the mob, and said the clip was “instigatory”.
However, the defence counsel questioned the authenticity of the video and whether the voice in the clip even belonged to his client or if it was just another forwarded message in circulation.
The P cited recent Supreme Court precedents to argue that the prosecution was under no obligation to identify the accused in a “clear and unmistakable” manner in an unlawful assembly.
He argued that in unlawful assemblies, even if a particular subject cannot be discerned from the footage, it is immaterial which accused had what particular role to play once it is established that the offence has been committed while they were present at the scene of crime.
The defence counsels also argued that the offences in the original FIR attract less than five years imprisonment, making the Arnesh Kumar guidelines applicable in the present case. After more than a month of custody, they argued no fruitful purpose would be fulfilled from keeping the accused any further in the jail.
It was stated by the counsels that all of the accused fulfil the triple test of bail– none of them pose a flight risk, a risk of tampering evidence, or any risk of influencing witnesses– as they are all from modest backgrounds and most of the evidence are already in police custody.
On February 17, the court granted bail to 12 accused in the case.
On January 24, a separate sessions court granted bail to Ubaidullah after the first bail order of January 20 was set aside and sent back to the sessions court by the Delhi High Court.
The case pertains to the violence during an anti-encroachment drive near the mosque in the Ramlila Maidan area on the intervening night of January 6 and 7. The police said rumours were spread on social media that the mosque opposite Turkman Gate was being demolished, prompting people to gather at the spot.
It has been alleged that around 150-200 people hurled stones and glass bottles at the police and MCD personnel, injuring six policemen, including the area’s station house officer.
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