Clean Antecedents, No Incriminating Materials Against Him Till Date: Congress MLA Mamman Khan Gets Interim Bail In Two FIRs Over Nuh Violence

Observing that "there is no incriminating evidence available against him till date", a Sessions Court in Nuh today granted interim bail to Ferozpur Jhirka Congress MLA Mamman Khan in two FIRs pertaining to the Nuh violence for which he was recently arrested. Khan was already granted bail in the other two FIRs on Saturday.

The Court observed that a balance must be struck between the liberty of an individual and the equity of the victims who have suffered due to the incident.

Additional Session Judge Ajay Sharma said, "that a fair opportunity and chance be given to the prosecution to establish its case and to conduct fair investigation and at the same time, the applicant should also not suffered because of some incriminating material may come on record in future against him."

The Court further directed the Superintendent of Police, Nuh to "take effective steps on priority basis to get the report of DITECH Lab qua the mobile phones of applicant as well as DVRs connected to this case." In the meanwhile, the Court ordered interim ball to Khan till next date of the hearing.

Khan was booked under Sections 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon), 149 (Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence commit­ted in prosecution of common object), 153-A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, etc.), 379-A (Snatching), 436 (Mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house, etc), 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation), 201(causing disappearance of evidence), 395 (Punishment for dacoity), 397(Robbery, or dacoity, with attempt to cause death), 107 (abetment), 120-B (Criminal conspiracy) of I.P.C. and three other FIRs on similar offences.

He was arrested pertaining to incidents of Nuh violence on  September 15, on the basis of disclosure statement of a co-accused.

The counsel representing Khan argued that he was not even present at the incident and there is no CCTV footage of the incidents which shows his involvement. It was further submitted that the arrest is politically motivated due to political rivalry and forthcoming assembly election in Haryana.

Opposing the plea, the Public Prosecutor submitted that unlike other bail matters, this matter is special one as public representative who are on very responsible post is involved in this case which caused tremendous law and order situation in Nuh and adjoining areas and further caused huge loss of public money, property, human lives and disrepute to the entire district.

It was further submitted that two phones were recovered from him, out of one was found formatted. The said two phones as well as other four phones of his brother along with 22 DVRs/CCTV Footages were sent to DITECH Lab, Gurugram and the report regarding the same is suit pending. Emphasising the importance of the report, the PP said that the DITECH Report which is a corroborative evidence of great importance will clear the entire picture and role of the applicant behind the riots/incident.

Considering the submissions, the Court noted that, "There is no video or CCTV footage of incident. The applicant is not named in BR and no specific role has been attributed to him in the complaint as well as FIR."

The Judge also noted that the counsel had to answer as to why the applicant formatted his phone before he handed over the same to the Investigating Officer.

"It is true that as of now there is no incriminating material available on record against the applicant except his mobile phones and CCTV footages, the reports still pending. It is a basic principle of criminal jurisprudence that thousand culprits can escape but one innocent should not be punished," the Court added.

While granting interim bail till next date to Khan, the Court considered the importance of lab reports and directed the SP, Nuh to take effective steps on priority basis to get reports of mobile phone and DVRs connected to the case.

The Court also directed Khan to not to directly or indirectly contact the complainant and appear before the Court on next date i.e October 18. 

On Saturday, a session court in Nuh had granted regular bail to Khan in two other FIRs pertaining to Nuh Violence.

Additional Sessions Judge Sandeep Kumar Duggal said, "There is no post from social media account of the applicant accused Mamman Khan inciting violence to a particular community against a particular community."

The Judge also noted that he has been booked "only on the disclosure statement" of co-accused who was already released on bail.

Adding that Investigation against Khan has been concluded and he has already suffered custody for a period of 15 days, the Court said, "No purpose would be served by keeping the applicant further behind custody. Since most of other co-accused are on bail."

Along with Khan the Court has also granted bail to five other co-accused in the case.

In a plea filed by Khan before High Court seeking constitution of high level SIT to probe Nuh violence, the state had submitted he had incited violence as a day before the incident Khan had posted on Facebook and WhatsApp that "nobody needs to worry as he (the petitioner) had fought for them in the Vidhan Sabha and will fight for them in Mewat also."

The matter is pending before the High Court for the reply from State.

Appearance: Advocates Tahir Hussain Devla and Mohammad Irshad in FIR 148, 139

Advocate Tahir Hussain Rupariya in FIR 149, 150

Case Title: Mamman Khan v. State of Haryana