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Court denies bail to woman accused in head constable Rattan Lal’s murder
Additional sessions judge Vinod Yadav rejected the bail plea of Tabassum, a resident of Chand Bagh of Delhi, observing that the call detail records of the mobile phone of her revealed that she was in constant touch with several co-accused.
A Delhi court on Friday dismissed the bail plea of a woman accused in connection with a case related to the murder of head constable Rattan Lal during north-east Delhi riots last year while stating that “even burqa clad women are clearly seen attacking the police party with sticks and other material in their hands and they clearly appeared to be charged up”.
Additional sessions judge Vinod Yadav rejected the bail plea of Tabassum, a resident of Chand Bagh of Delhi, observing that the call detail records of the mobile phone of her revealed that she was in constant touch with several co-accused.
The judge noted that “it is clearly evident that the protesters and organisers had motivated the mob and certain unscrupulous elements had surrounded the scene of crime and they appeared to be fully equipped with rioting material — like stones, sticks, sharp edged and other sort of raw weapons.”
“It has also come on record that some of the persons of the mob had taken possession of the rooftops of high rise buildings at or around 25 feet road, having firearms and other rioting material with them,” the judge noted.
He said that “all this prima facie indicates that everything was being done under a well hatched conspiracy, the common object whereof was to cause blockade of the main Wazirabad Road and if resisted by the police, then to go to any extent to liquidate them by the use of force.”
The police had opposed the bail plea saying Tabassum used to share stage with other protesters and instigate the gathering against the government, which ultimately led to violence on February 24 last year thereby resulting in death of more than 50 people in north-east Delhi, including head constable Rattan Lal.
According to the prosecution, during the incident, deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Shahdara, Amit Sharma, ACP of Gokalpuri Anuj Kumar, and 51 other policemen had also suffered severe injuries at the hands of rioters.
The woman’s counsel had contended that the applicant was a lady, aged about 38 years and a permanent resident of Chand Bagh, who had two minor school going children. He said that the children’s future is at stake as they have been deprived of the care and custody of their mother while also contending that she has been falsely implicated in the present matter by the investigating agency.
Communal riots had broken out in north east Delhi in February last year claiming 53 lives and leaving over 400 injured.
