New Delhi, Jan 14 (PTI) A Delhi court on Wednesday dismissed the bail pleas of five men accused in the stone-pelting incident near Faiz-e-Elahi mosque in Turkman Gate, saying the violence was not a simple case of assault but “an attack on the administration”.
Judicial Magistrate Sayesha Chadha rejected the bail applications of Kashif, Kaif, Adnan, Aarib, and Sameer, trashing the defence arguments of false implication and pre-FIR arrests.
The court said, “The relentless pelting of stones, damage to government property and the injury sustained by the police officials, while the discharge of their official duties is indeed not a simpliciter case of assault but an attack on the administration.” Counsel for the accused argued they were “not known to each other and do not have any previous involvements”, claiming “the riot-like situation” was a “police failure” and that they have been falsely implicated.
The defence counsel further contended arrests occurred before the registration of FIR and Section 109(1) (attempt to murder) of the BNS was wrongly invoked to make the case triable in sessions court.
In its order, the court highlighted that the CCTV footage identified Kashif and Kaif, the call detail records placed Aarib at the scene of incident, and provocative recordings were recovered from Adnan and Sameer’s phones.
“The recordings were heard in open court, as per which, accused persons can be heard instigating the fellow members on the WhatsApp group to crowd near the Faiz-e-Elahi Masjid in order to stop the demolition.
“The investigating officer (IO) had also mentioned that the provocative messages were circulated by the accused persons to various others in order to instigate the aforesaid riots,” the court said.
It said the issue whether offence of attempt to murder had been wrongly invoked was a matter of trial but the medico legal cases indicated injuries on the vital body parts of the police officials.
Citing the case diary, the court said the arguments regarding the pre-mature arrest did not hold good.
It said, “Hence, considering the seriousness of allegations, stage of investigation…the court deems it apposite to dismiss the bail applications of the accused persons.” An anti-encroachment drive near the mosque in the Ramlila Maidan area on the intervening night of January 6 and 7 had turned violent.
The police 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. PTI MDB KVK KVK
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