New Delhi: The Delhi High Court bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait today dismissed a plea of ex-Congress councillor Ishrat Jahan, which challenged the trial court order of allowing Delhi Police an extension of 60 days for investigation into the Delhi Riots case against Jahan.
The court also granted anticipatory bail to Dr Zafarul Islam Khan, former chairperson of the Delhi Minorities Commission, in connection with the sedition FIR lodged against him.
The Court said, “The proviso of Section 43-D of the Act stipulates that if it is not possible to complete the investigation within the period of 90 days, the Court may if it is satisfied with the report of the Public Prosecutor indicating the progress of the investigation and the specific reasons for the detention of the accused beyond the said period of 90 days, extend the period upto 180 days. The prosecutor has to see whether the professed requirement of the investigating agency is justified. This justification, is based not only upon the application of the investigation officer but also on the progress of investigation as recorded in the case diary.”
“The satisfaction of the Court for extension of the period of investigation is clearly recorded in the impugned order dated 15.06.2020. This satisfies the requirement of section 43-D of UAPA. It is apparent from the above that the court formed an opinion (implicit in the expression “upon perusal”) and the opinion so formed was predicated on: a) submissions; b) perusal of case diary and c) Report of the learned Public Prosecutor, which was duly examined to satisfy the requirements of law that: 1) what the progress of investigation was; 2) the specific reasons for detention of the accused beyond the period of 90 days. The court, therefore, has considered all relevant circumstances for passing the order granting extension of period of investigation,” the Court noted in its order.
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The court had on July 20 reserved its order in this case.
Read the Judgment here;
SKT31072020CRLMM15252020_111525-1-India Legal Bureau