By Sohini Ghosh
Emphasising that an accused cannot be made to languish behind bars for an “indefinite period”, the Delhi High Court Monday granted bail to two men who were arrested over two years ago for allegedly murdering a head constable during the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots.
“… it is the duty of the judicial pillars of this country that an accused is not unnecessarily deprived of his personal liberty as enshrined under Article 21… Undoubtedly, bail is a rule and jail is an exception, therefore, it is imperative to state that in case a court finds sufficient grounds to enlarge an accused on bail, it must exercise its powers discretionarily and uphold the ends of justice to an accused languishing in jail while ensuring the proper enforcement of procedural law as envisaged in the provision… (the accused) cannot be made to languish behind the bars for an indefinite period,” stated the court of Justice Chandra Dhari Singh as it granted relief to the two accused, Mohd Wasim alias Bablu (35), who has been in custody for more than 25 months, and Mohd Jalaluddin (36), who has been in custody for 3 years and 7 months after being arrested in March 2020.
Arguing for bail, Wasim relied on CCTV footage and submitted that he was not part of the mob and had only come out of his home to check on his brother as the mob was allegedly gathered at the site, near his residence. He was arraigned as an accused merely based on the statement of a police officer, he added. Jalaluddin too submitted that the FIR was registered against him on the basis of a complaint by a constable and has been falsely implicated in the offence.
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here.
