The Delhi Police has contended before the high court that a trial court’s order discharging 11 people, including student activists Sharjeel Imam and Asif Iqbal Tanha, in the 2019 Jamia Nagar violence case, is patently illegal and perverse.
In a petition, the police has said the trial court’s order is in the teeth of well-settled principles of law, suffers from grave infirmities that go to the root of the matter and is perverse in the eyes of law.
The plea is scheduled to come up for hearing on Monday.
The petition has sought to set aside the trial court’s February 4 order that discharged the 11 accused in the case, holding that they were made “scapegoats” by the Delhi Police and that dissent has to be encouraged and not stifled.
The trial court, however, ordered framing of charges against one of the accused, Mohammad Ilyas.
An FIR was lodged in connection with the violence that erupted after clashes between the police and people protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in the Jamia Nagar area here in December 2019.
The police said the trial court not only discharged the accused, but was also swayed by emotional and sentimental feelings, casting aspersions on the prosecuting agency and passing gravely prejudicial and adverse remarks against it and the investigation.
“The trial court, while not considering and weighing the evidence on record, has proceeded to discharge the respondents (accused) at the stage of framing of charges. The trial court erred in not only holding a mini-trial at this stage, but also recorded perverse findings which are contrary to the record to arrive at the finding that a case of discharge was made out against the respondents,” the petition said.
This story was originally published in indiatoday.in . Read the full story here