New Delhi, A Delhi court on Tuesday reserved the bail order for five men allegedly involved in a stone-pelting incident near the Faiz-e-Elahi mosque in the Turkman Gate area here for January 14.
Two accused, arrested recently, were also produced before the court, which sent them to judicial custody for eight days.
Judicial Magistrate Sayesha Chada heard the bail pleas of the five accused Aarib, Kashif, Kaif, Adnan and Sameer.
Adnan’s counsel submitted that the five accused were known to police officers before the incident but none of them had a criminal record. They did not know each other and had no prior connection to each other, the lawyer said, adding that they were arrested to set a deterrent effect.
“Due to the breach of public order, the act of one person does not mean the liability needs to be fastened onto everyone,” he said.
The lawyer further submitted that Adnan was allegedly not visible in the CCTV footage.
The lawyers for all the accused claimed that the arrests were made before the First Information Report was lodged at 10:07 am on January 7. The accused were apprehended on the same day from 12:30 am onwards and the arrests were made at 6:30 am, they said.
Advocates Tushar Kadian, Atul Srivastava and Anish Kumar appeared in the court on behalf of the Delhi Police.
They submitted that an anti-encroachment drive was being carried out near the Faiz-e-Elahi mosque pursuant to a Delhi High Court order. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi approached police to ensure law and order during the drive and the latter issued a prohibitory order. The lawyers claimed that a crowd that had gathered at the site was well aware of the court order.
“It was not a simple case of assault but an attack on the system,” one of the lawyers said.
The prosecution submitted that the accused hurled stones at the police personnel, thereby endangering their lives.
It informed the court that intimidating videos and messages were found on the accused’s phones, predominantly spreading rumours about the alleged demolition of the mosque.
The prosecution opposed the bail pleas, saying the maximum sentence for some of the offences mentioned in the FIR is life imprisonment, which makes the Arnesh Kumar guidelines inapplicable.
It also contended that that since a crowd of hundreds had gathered at the site on the day of the incident, many people involved in the violence are yet to be arrested and releasing the accused on bail would allow them the opportunity to warn the others.
The investigating officer had submitted photographs to the court from the CCTV footage, confirming the presence of Kashif and Kaif at the site.
However, Kaif’s lawyer told the court that there is CCTV footage that confirms that his client was at home from 7 pm on January 6 to 3 am on January 7, when he was apprehended.
Aarib’s lawyer submitted that his call detail records show that he was at Chitli Qabar at the time of the incident, which is a couple of kilometres away from the site of the incident. The lawyer further said Aarib is a resident of the locality adjacent to the mosque, which does not make his presence near the site at the time of his apprehension unusual.
The court reserved its order on the bail pleas for 4 pm on Wednesday.
Two freshly-arrested accused Mohammad Imran and Adnan were also produced before the court.
The accused alleged that they were subjected to custodial violence. The court examined both for any injuries in the chamber. No external injuries were found on Adnan’s body. However, the court found injury marks on Imran’s body that were not found to be recorded in the medico-legal certificate .
The IO has been directed to examine Imran once again and submit the medical report by Wednesday. The court issued a notice to police on allegations of custodial violence and to the chief medical officer of the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital for failing to report the injuries found on Imran’s body.
Both the accused were remanded in eight days of judicial custody, till January 21.
The anti-encroachment drive near the mosque in the Ramlila Maidan area on the intervening night of January 6 and 7 had triggered violence. Police sources said rumours were spread on social media that the mosque opposite Turkman Gate was being demolished, prompting people to gather at the spot. They said around 150-200 people hurled stones and glass bottles at the police and MCD personnel, injuring six policemen, including the area’s station house officer.
MCD Deputy Commissioner Vivek Kumar said about 36,000 square feet of encroached area was cleared during the drive. He said a diagnostic centre, a banquet hall and two boundary walls were demolished, and clarified that the mosque was not damaged.
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