By Sohini Ghosh
The Delhi High Court Friday allowed Meeran Haider, an accused in the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots ‘larger conspiracy case’ and a Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) youth wing leader, to withdraw his bail plea which had been pending before the court since 2022.
The bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Girish Kathpalia permitted the application seeking withdrawal of the plea. Haider will have the liberty to move the trial court with a bail plea. The withdrawal comes owing to the long pendency since July 2022 and the plea not being heard, according to sources.
In April 2022, a Delhi trial court rejected Haider’s bail plea following which he moved the High Court to appeal against that order.
On September 4 this year, the bench of Justices Kait and Kathpalia refused to grant an early hearing in the bail plea by Sharjeel Imam, another co-accused in the case. Additionally, two other bail pleas — those of Gulfisha Fatima and Abdul Khalid Saifi — in which the arguments were concluded by a previous bench, will be heard afresh after a change in the bench hearing the matters.
Haider and others are facing allegations of pre-planned conspiracy to allegedly cause riots in Northeast Delhi between February 23 and 25, 2020. The offences against them have been lodged under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Prevention of Damage to Public Property (PDPP) Act, Arms Act, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here.
