The bail petitions of Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Abdul Khalid Saifi and several others accused in the Delhi riots conspiracy case will now have to be reargued before another bench of the Delhi High Court.
Justice Siddharth Mridul, who was heading the Division Bench hearing the cases pertaining to bail petitions of Fatima, Haider, Saifi and several others, has now been elevated as the Chief Justice of the Manipur High Court.
The Bench of Justice Mridul and Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar was hearing the matter till now.
Not only was the matter heard properly, but verdicts were also reserved in the case.
A new Bench comprising Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Shalinder Kaur will now deal with the cases.
The Delhi High Court was informed about the status of these cases. The Bench was told that the matters have been pending for over a year and will have to be argued again.
The Court has listed the cases for arguments in the months of January and February 2024.
The transfer of Justice Bhatnagar, who was supposedly going to hear the case, has been recently recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium.
However, the Central government was yet to notify the transfer.
A total of 10 bail petitions related to the Delhi riots conspiracy case were pending before the High Court.
The court has heard arguments in the bail petitions of Abdul Khalid Saifi, Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima, Shadab Ahmed, and Athar Khan in detail.
Earlier, a Bench led by Justice Mridul had reserved its verdict in the bail applications of Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa ur Rehman and Saleem Malik.
It is important to note that before the judgments were delivered, he was transferred to Manipur, where he presently sits as the Chief Justice of the Manipur High Court.
Meanwhile, the bail petitions of Sharjeel Imam and the State’s appeal seeking the cancellation of bail to another accused, Ishrat Jahan, were also listed before a Bench led by Justice Mridul.
However, arguments did not commence in these matters.