The Delhi High Court on Tuesday orally remarked that it could not allow the State to make arguments endlessly in the matter related to the 2020 North-East Delhi riots case.
The Bench of Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Shalinder Kaur made the oral observations after hearing arguments from the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) for over an hour in the bail petitions filed by Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid and others booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in connection with the 2020 riots.
On January 9 also, the High Court had directed the SPP to conclude his submissions. Noting that this was not a trial, the High Court had asked the SPP how long would it take to conclude his submissions.
The SPP today read out the extracts from Sharjeel Imam’s speech to show that he was involved in the Delhi riots conspiracy. He said the speeches of Imam decoded the conspiracy in itself.
While referring to a speech, wherein Imam called for ‘chakka jam’ in Delhi, the SPP stated that Imam gave out a provocative speech and insisted that Delhi be the focal point for protests.
Imam formulated the Shaheen Bagh protests. The Shaheen Bagh protest was the brainchild of Imam, while the locals were opposed to the protests, he added.
Regarding the implementation of CAA-NRC, the SPP argued that Imam’s speech on the matter challenged the sovereignty of the country to implement a law.
the SPP further mentioned that mobilisation messages for protests came from a fake number, which were then posted in different groups, including the groups of Jamia Millia Islamia and AIMIM for maximum outreach.
The High Court said at this point that the arguments needed to end sometime.
The SPP then stated that two coordinate benches have already taken the view that a conspiracy has been made out.
The High Court then made an oral observation that if this was all the SPP wanted to show the Court, it should next time give notes.
The Bench then listed the matter for further hearing on February 3.