Delhi riots: HC vacates stay on release of school principal

The Delhi high court on Thursday vacated the stay on the release of Faisal Farooq, principal of the Rajdhani School, booked in connection with the northeast Delhi

The Delhi high court on Thursday vacated the stay on the release of Faisal Farooq, principal of the Rajdhani School, booked in connection with the northeast Delhi riots in and around his school. The order paves way for his release but Faisal continues to be in jail because he has been arrested in another FIR related to the riots.

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Justice Suresh Kait lifted the interim orders passed on Farooq’s release after the Centre and the Delhi government sparred over the issue of who would represent the Delhi police. During the hearing, the Centre’s counsel said it had the permission to appear in all the cases pertaining to the north-east Delhi riots from the Lieutenant Governor. The Centre also produced a permission letter signed by the deputy secretary, home department, Delhi government.

The court noted that the controversy had existed since the first hearing on June 22, and with no solution till date, it would be “prejudice” to the rights of the accused.

The court was hearing a plea by the Delhi Police seeking to cancel Farooq’s bail granted by a lower court. On an earlier occasion, the hearing had seen a heated exchange between solicitor general Tushar Mehta and Delhi government standing counsel (criminal) Rahul Mehra who submitted that the Centre had no power to file this petition against the June 20 order of the trial court.

Later, assistant solicitor general Aman Lekhi had appeared in place of Mehta who sought permission to withdraw his name from the petition out of disgust over the situation.

When the same happened on Wednesday, the court had asked the Centre to produce documents wherein Delhi Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Anil Baijal granted it the permission to challenge Farooq’s bail. It had said that the DCP did not have the powers to appoint a lawyer and if the L-G’s permission was not shown, the stay on Farooq’s release would be vacated.

On Thursday, ASG Lekhi gave a letter by the secretary, home department of the Delhi government, which said that the L-G had given the permission to Mehta, Lekhi, and advocates Amit Mahajan and Rajat Nair to represent the Delhi police in not just this but all matters arising out of the north-east Delhi riots.

However, Delhi government counsel Mehra said the process of obtaining the permission was completely illegal and he had also written to that effect from deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia who is presently the home minister.

During the second half, ASG told the court that a law officer can be appointed by the Centre and not by the state government. He submitted that “right to appear for a client is a right that has been constitutionally sanctioned”. He took the court through various judgments of the division bench of the Delhi high court in 2016 and the Supreme Court verdict on the decision making body of 2018, highlighting that the Centre was correct in filing the plea.

He also contended that there was an order by the President giving powers to the L-G to appoint law officers.

Mehra told the court that the Centre could not have picked a lawyer for Delhi police and it would be completely unconstitutional.

Appearing for Farooq, senior counsel Ramesh Gupta and advocate Gaurav Kocchar told the court that the stay should be vacated because their client was already under arrest in another case and due to the controversy of representation, his rights were suffering.

The court then agreed with his contention, vacating the stay on Farooq’s release, and posted the matter for further hearing on July 22.

The police, in the petition filed through advocates Amit Mahajan and Rajat Nair, have challenged the trial court’s June 20 order which granted bail to Farooq on the ground that it had prima facie not been established that he was present at the spot at the time of incident.

The Delhi Police had, on June 3, filed a charge sheet before the court against Farooq and 17 others in connection with a building being gutted during the riots. At least 53 had died while 400 others were injured in the riots earlier.

The trial court, in its bail order, had noted that the charge sheet filed against Farooqwas bereft of material showing his alleged links with the Popular Front of India, Pinjra Tod group and others.