The Delhi High Court on Monday declined to hear student activist Gulfisha Fatima’s plea against her alleged illegal detention in a Delhi riots case after taking serious note to her advocate Mehmood Pracha’s taking recourse to “heckling” during the hearing.
A Bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani ordered that Ms. Fatima’s petition be placed before another Bench on Friday.
“Instead of addressing us on merits, Mehmood Pracha is taking recourse to heckling and seeking to take recourse to facts not in the petition. List before another Bench..,” the court said.
“We refuse to be addressed by someone who does not know the basics of law,” the HC remarked.
Delhi riots case
The court was hearing a plea by Ms. Fatima seeking for a direction to release her in an Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) case relating to alleged larger conspiracy that led to north-east Delhi riots in February last year. In the habeas corpus petition, Ms. Fatima claimed that her detention in judicial custody was illegal and invalid.
During the hearing, Mr. Pracha argued that Ms. Fatima was in continued illegal detention and as per a Supreme Court decision, only a special court under the NIA Act, and not a Sessions court, had the power to extend remand. Mr. Pracha also claimed that as of date, there was no remand order in the present case.
As the HC said that the remand order was not part of the pleadings in the case, Mr. Pracha urged the Bench to take his statement on record. To this, the Bench said, “You are not addressing a rally. You are addressing a court. Show us from your pleadings... File an affidavit to say there is no remand order today. You can’t argue statement of facts at the Bar.”
The police had earlier said that Ms. Fatima’s petition was “not maintainable” before the High Court. It had said that on September 16 last year the chargesheet was filed before a trial court against her and other co-accused persons.
It added that on September 17, 2020 the trial court had taken cognisance of the offences. “The petitioner is in judicial custody pursuant to the order passed by the trial court under Section 309 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. Therefore, detention of the petitioner in judicial custody is legal and valid,” the Delhi police had said.
Ms. Fatima was arrested on April 11, 2020.
