Court grants bail to three more in north-east Delhi riots cases

A Delhi court has granted bail to three men in two separate cases related to the north-east Delhi riots, including a man who was arrested in connection with the

A Delhi court has granted bail to three men in two separate cases related to the north-east Delhi riots, including a man who was arrested in connection with the alleged vandalism of a temple during the communal violence in February. The riots had left 53 dead and over 400 injured.

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Additional sessions judge Vinod Yadav, on Tuesday, while granting bail to Gulfam, who stands accused in the temple vandalism case, said besides Gufam’s disclosure statement, there was nothing on record to connect him with the alleged crime. The court granted him bail on a bond of ₹20,000.

Gulfam was lodged in Mandoli jail after he was arrested in the other case earlier. He has already been granted bail in that case. The court said there was no CCTV footage available on record to corroborate the prosecution’s case about his involvement in the vandalism.

“Besides his own disclosure statement, prima facie, there is nothing on record to connect the applicant (Gulfam) with the commission of crime. Admittedly, the applicant has neither been named in the present FIR nor are there specific allegations against him. There is no CCTV footage available on record to corroborate the prosecution’s case,” the court said, while adding that there is no independent eyewitness corroboration of the incident either.

“The applicant cannot be incarcerated for infinity merely on account of the fact that other persons who were part of the riotous mob have to be identified and arrested in the matter,” Yadav said.

The judge later also granted bail to Rashid Saifi and Mohd Shadab in another riots-related case, saying they have not been named in the FIR; nor are there any specific allegations against them.

The accused were arrested for allegedly looting, vandalising and torching a shop in Dayalpur area during the riots.

Yadav said identification of Saifi and Shadab by beat Constable Gyan Singh was hardly of any consequence as the court was unable to understand why Singh had waited till March 3 to name the accused when he had categorically seen them resorting to looting and vandalism on February 25.

“Being a police official, what stopped him from reporting the matter then and there at the police station or to bring the same to the knowledge of higher police officers? This casts a serious doubt on the credibility of this witness,” Yadav said in his order passed on October 13.