United Against Hate (UHA) member Khalid Saifi, booked in the “larger conspiracy” case regarding the 2020 North-East Delhi riots, told the Delhi High Court on Tuesday that no charges have been framed in the matter even after four years.
Senior advocate Rebecca John, appearing for Saifi, submitted before a division bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain that three co-accused — Devangana Kalita, Natasha Narwal, and Asif Iqbal Tanha — in the case registered by the police were granted bail by the High Court in 2021.
John submitted that the bail was challenged before the Supreme Court, wherein the apex court in May 2023 had not disturbed the bail order. The senior counsel said that the apex court had also said that if a co-accused is entitled to a plea on parity, it is for him to make such a plea and for the “court to consider it”. “But, I can plead parity on facts. Even otherwise, I’m entitled to bail dehors the parity argument,” she said.
Meanwhile, special public prosecutor Amit Prasad, representing the Delhi police, took the court through certain messages on the Delhi Protest Support Group (DPSG) on WhatsApp, stating that Saifi had sent a text message on the group, wherein he had said, “ask them to put black tapes on CCTV cameras” installed by police.
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here.