Delhi Riots case: Delhi Court orders separation of trial on basis of faith of accused

A Special Court dealing with Delhi Riots cases has referred to the Gujarat High Court verdict in a Godhra Riots case on separation of trial on the basis of faith after it came on record that the accused on trial belonged to two different faiths [State v. Kuldeep and ors]..Calling it a “peculiar situation”, Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Yadav ordered separation of trial in the case.“…whether the trial can be permitted to proceed with assortment of accused persons from different religions purportedly acting under two different conspiracies and unlawful assemblies. This is definitely going to inter se prejudice the defence of accused persons from different religions. Similar situation had arisen before a Gujarat Court conducting the trial of Godhra communal riots,” it stated..The Court was dealing with a case where it had passed am order on charge against five accused persons - three Hindus and two Muslims. The accused had pleaded not guilty and sought trial..It emphasised that a similar situation was referred to the Gujarat High Court in a criminal reference titled as Additional Sessions Judge v. State of Gujarat 2011, wherein the the High Court authorised separation of trial of the accused persons from two different communities.Therefore, relying on the judicial precedent, the Court ordered to separate the trial of the accused persons so that their defence wouldn’t be prejudiced.“The DCP (Crime Branch) Dr Joy N Tirkey is hereby directed to furnish a complete set of chargesheet in physical form to the court within two weeks from today,” the order passed on September 14 stated..The Court staff was subsequently directed to put up a separate Sessions Case number in this very FIR and the existing chargesheet was ordered to be treated as the chargesheet for three accused persons namely, Kuldeep, Deepak Thakur and Deepak Yadav. The other chargesheet would be for accused persons Mohd Furkan and Mohd Irshad.“A copy of this order be sent to the DCP (Crime Branch) Dr .Joy N Tirkey, Counsels for the accused persons and the superintendent jail concerned through electronic mode,” the order added.Special Public Prosecutor Manoj Chaudhary appeared for the State. Advocate Abdul Gaffar represented accused Mohd Irshad, while Advocate AA Khan appeared for Furkan. Advocate Vimal Tiwari appeared for Kuldeep, while Advocates VK Singh and Manoj Chauhan represented Deepak Yadav and Deepak Thakur..[Read order]