[Delhi Riots info leak] If Delhi Police have not done it, they should not oppose probe: Asif Iqbal Tanha to Delhi High Court

The Delhi Police is duty-bound to ensure that whoever has leaked information to the media in the Delhi riots cases is dealt with strongly, contended the counsel for Asif Iqbal Tanha before the Delhi High Court on Wednesday (Asif Iqbal Tanha vs State of NCT of Delhi)..Advocate Siddharth Aggarwal, appearing on behalf of Tanha before a Bench of Justice Mukta Gupta, argued:."Delhi Police is a free and fair agency; they say that they have not done it - then it is their bounden duty to ensure that whoever has done it is dealt with as strongly as I have been dealt with for not doing anything!".Aggarwal submitted that such games outside the courtroom are now being treated like the prosecution's "beholden right" in a bid to create such hype to prejudice the accused..Pressing for further investigation into the matter, Aggarwal contended:"If it is done directly, it is to be deprecated. If it is done indirectly, it is to be more deprecated ... The conduct of the Delhi Police, in this case, has been to continue the camouflage, to continue that smokescreen, to say 'we have done enough and it should be dropped.' ... I want them to feel the same sense of outrage that I am feeling right now. That is what the Court must expect.".The Court was hearing a petition moved by Tanha against the leak of "sensitive" and "confidential" information in the Delhi Riots cases, including alleged confessional statements, to the media. .Tanha, who was granted bail earlier this year, is one among several accused in the Delhi Riots cases..While a bail petition was pending in August 2020, "news channels on 'prime time news' read out from disclosure statements, confessional statements attributed to me," Aggarwal recounted today..It was at a time when no charge sheet had been filed and the only person responsible for any such material was the investigating agency, i.e. the Delhi Police, it was pointed out..Aggarwal further emphasised that the Delhi Police also registered its grievance over such leak of information, which they stated on affidavit was not authorised by them. When this is the case, the Delhi Police cannot now oppose further investigation in the matter. .Aggarwal added the claim of the Delhi Police that they do not know who leaked the information after an internal inquiry is not enough to put an end to the matter. ."I am not saying I know who did it, but it was taken from the custody of the Delhi Police ... Every single individual who has touched this file prior to this leakage was a public servant ... Evidently, information and documents have been taken without the consent of the rightful custodian. That is why the Delhi Police says it is aggrieved. I don't have to show it was taken from me", Aggarwal contended. .Aggarwal asserted that even if the Delhi Police has the original document with them, the leak of the information would still comprise theft. Adding that the Delhi Police was responsible for the safe custody of the information, Aggarwal also commented, "An attempt is being made in this Court to say, "look left, look right, but don't look at me. Everybody in the world is a suspect except me.".Agarwal argued further that he was surprised that the Delhi Police is strongly resisting further inquiry in the matter."Where inquiry yields no result, where people to be investigated are the same as those conducting it, where inquiry was within closed doors, with no oversight ... there is a mandate of entrusting that investigation to an independent department", he urged the Court..Whether the alleged information leak was done for free or in return for something is also an aspect to be considered, he added. .The matter will be heard next on October 1, 2021, when Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi is expected to argue.