No bail to Daryaganj violence accused

Delhi court extends their judicial custody by two weeks

December 24, 2019 01:24 am | Updated 01:24 am IST - NEW DELHI

A city court on Monday rejected the bail applications of 15 persons arrested in Daryaganj last Friday on charges of indulging in violence during a protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Their judicial custody has been extended by two weeks.

Metropolitan Magistrate Kapil Kumar dismissed the bail applications as he did not find sufficient grounds to grant them relief.

Lawyer Rebecca John, who represented the bail applicants, earlier read out the FIR registered on a complaint from the area Station House Officer to point out that a vehicle set ablaze during the protest was private property, and questioned how the police invoked the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.

The police submitted that the protesters damaged barricades and pelted stones at the police station, which is adjacent to the area Deputy Commissioner of Police’s office. They said that 17 policemen were injured.

Ms. John said the 15 persons, who were from a poor background, were randomly picked up by the police. She asked if the police had identified them through CCTV footage or any witness. One of them, a 61-year-old, was a welding worker, she said.

The accused’s lawyer contested the charge of criminal conspiracy and common intent, stating that they did not know each other. She also cited High Court guidelines to argue that rioting cases needed to be assessed carefully. She said the police could have sent them notices as part of the probe instead of arresting them. The police submitted that the 15 persons were arrested as they were pelting stones during the protest.

Ms. John urged the court to direct the police to produce the arrest memos, which said that the arrests were made around 6 a.m. the next morning. It meant that the arrests were not spontaneous, she said. She also questioned the police for invoking provisions related to fire and explosives.

The arrested persons were from low-income group and were not capable of influencing any witness or tamper with evidence, and sureties, as directed by the court, would be furnished for their bail, she said.

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