Delhi Riots: Justice Anup Bhambhani recuses from hearing Asif Iqbal Tanha plea on police leaks to media

Delhi High Court judge Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani last week recused from hearing a petition by Delhi Riots accused Asif Iqbal Tanha seeking a direction to media to take down "sensitive" and "confidential" information leaked by the Delhi Police on its investigation in the matter [Asif Iqbal Tanha vs State]..Justice Bhambhani reasoned that no act on the court's part must, in any manner, have a deleterious impact on the credibility of the justice system."Accordingly, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the submissions, and in the larger interests of the overall credibility of the justice system, this court is persuaded to recuse from the matter," said the court. .The court had earlier sought the response of the State and certain media platforms' in the case in 2020. The plea arose from media reports that emerged on Asif's "disclosure statement" before the Delhi Police. As per the reports, Asif conceded that the riots were a premeditated conspiracy and that former JNU student, Umar Khalid had asked Asif to hold a 'chakka jam' in coordination with other members of the Jamia Coordination Committee..Tanha moved the Court contending that the information was leaked by Delhi Police and thus an inquiry ought to be conducted into the misconduct of the official who leaked the information to media platforms such as OpIndia, Zee Media, Facebook and YouTube.He argued that such leaks were prejudicial to fair trial as they tainted the mind of the judge and public..Accusing the Delhi Police of malafide intent, Tanha claimed that the leaked information has no evidentiary value.Tanha also sought guidelines on media reporting of ongoing criminal investigations..Advocate Siddharth Aggarwal, appearing on behalf of Tanha argued that Delhi Police was duty-bound to ensure that whoever leaked information to the media in the Delhi riots cases is dealt with strongly. "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!".Senior Advoctae Siddharth Aggarwal, Advocates Sowjhanya Shankaran, Abhinav Sekhri and Siddhart Satija appeared for Tanha. The respondents were represented by ASG Sanjay Jain, SPP Rajat Nair, Advocates Ashima Gupta, Dhruv Pandey, Pankush Goyal, Anuj Kapoor, Ravi Sharma, Anjani Kr. Rai, Amit Chadha, Rajat Arora and Mariya Shahab. .[Read Order]