Delhi Riots case: Delhi High Court asks trial court not to pass final orders on framing of charge for now

The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the trial court hearing the Delhi Riots conspiracy case not to pass final orders in the matter for the time being. [Devangana Kalita v. State (NCT of Delhi)].Justice Neena Bansal Krishna said,"Argument on charge is ongoing in the trial court, which is directed to continue but no final order is to be passed until High Court hears it on the next date.".The Court was hearing a plea by one of the accused in the case - Pinjra Tod activist Devangana Kalita - seeking the release of videos, documents and other evidence gathered by the police in the case.Kalita has filed two petitions before the High Court challenging trial court orders denying her prayer for the video footage as well as plea for transcript of WhatsApp chats.While one case relates to the alleged larger conspiracy behind the Delhi Riots, the other concerns the murder of a person protesting near the Jafrabad flyover..Appearing for Kalita today, Advocate Adit S Pujari submitted that unrelied documents have not been provided to the accused. He said that Kalita was wrongfully arrested while she was peacefully protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), waving the Indian flag while sitting under a metro station. The allegation against her is that she was involved in the 2020 Delhi Riots."There is CCTV footage of the protest which the respondents are not providing to us. The video/CCTV footage of the incident is a relied upon document but it is not being given," Pujari argued..Justice Bansal then asked counsel for the Delhi Police, "If the video is relied upon, why has it not been provided?".Special Public Prosecutor for the Delhi Riots cases Amit Prasad requested for time as he did not have the file with him. He told the Court that he would argue on maintainability first.The judge replied, "Part heard matter means it was argued on merits, how is maintainability argument coming now?" .The Court eventually posted the hearing for September 23..Four years after the 2020 Delhi Riots, the Karkardooma Court last week started hearing arguments on charge in the conspiracy case.The accused in the case are Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Safoora Zargar, Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Tahir Hussain, Khalid Saifi, Isharat Jahan, Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima, Shifa-Ur-Rehman, Shadab Ahmed, Tasleem Ahmed, Saleem Malik, Mohd Saleem Khan, Athar Khan and Faizan Khan. The Delhi Police has invoked stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) against the accused..Kalita, Narwal and Tanha were arrested in May 2020 and were in custody for almost a year, before the Delhi High Court granted them bail on June 15, 2021.While granting bail to the trio, the High Court had stated that that the State, in its anxiety to suppress dissent, blurred the line between the constitutionally guaranteed right to protest and terrorist activity. It had held that prima facie, no offence under Sections 15, 17 or 18 of the UAPA was made out against the three.The High Court underscored that the right to protest peacefully without arms is a fundamental right under Article 19(1)(b) of the Constitution and has not been outlawed yet.Last year, the Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by the Delhi Police challenging the grant of bail to the three accused.