Delhi Riots : High Court Vacates Stay On Trial Of 'Larger Conspiracy' Case Under UAPA

In view of the Delhi government's submission that the accused in the case are at liberty to collect a complete hard copy of the filed chargesheet from the trial court on Mar 25, the Delhi High Court today vacated its stay on the trial of the case.

The Court had earlier stayed the trial in the case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, upon the prosecution's appeal against a trial court order which had directed for hard copy of the charge sheet to be supplied to all the accused.

In light of the state's withdrawal of its objection to the supply of charge sheet, the single judge bench of Justice Suresh Kait today said, "...no further order is required to be passed and the same is, accordingly, disposed of with pending application. Accordingly, interim order is vacated."

The Delhi Police had earlier opposed supply of hard copies of the chargesheet on the ground that it ran into thousands of pages with twenty-three volumes.

The case pertains to an alleged conspiracy that led to rioting in the north-east areas of the national capital in Feb last year - with the accused persons in the case including JNU students, Pinjra Tod activists, and AAP MLA Tahir Hussain. The accused persons are Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Abdul Khalid Saifi, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Ishrat Jahan, Safoora Zargar, Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita.

While the first chargesheet in the case, alleges commission of offences under Section 120 B of the Indian Penal Code read with Sections 13, 16, 17, 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act [UAPA]; and Sections 124A, 153A, 302, 307, 109, 114, 147, 148, 149, 186, 353, 395, 201, 341, 212, 295, 427, 435, 436, 452, 454, 341, 420, 468, 471, 34 IPC; as well as Sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act and Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984, a second charge sheet was filed against Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam. All the accused except Safoora and Faizan are presently in judicial custody.