Delhi riots case: Accused cab driver granted bail by High Court; judge says CDR details show he wasn’t in the vicinity of the violence-affected area

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16 Feb 2021, 7:59 am

THE Delhi High Court Tuesday granted bail to Danish, an accused in the Delhi riots case of being part of a mob that participated in violence that caused the death of a head constable of the Delhi police and left over 50 people injured.

A single-judge bench presided by Justice Suresh Kait observed that as per Call Detail Records (CDR) details of the petitioner, Danish, he was not even in the vicinity of the violence-affected area i.e. Main Wazirabad Road.

Justice Kait said since the chargesheet had already been filed, the petitioner was no more required for investigation and as the trial would take substantial time, the petitioner deserved bail.

Danish was named in a disclosure statement made on March 11, 2020 by co-accused Muhammad Yunus and Muhammad Ayyub. However, there is no CDR entry that can possibly show any call record between the people disclosing the petitioner's name and the petitioner, the court pointed out.

"These statements are made on the same date, i.e. 11.03.2020, including the disclosure statement of petitioner during the police custody. It is on 11.03.2020 Muhammad Yunus, Muhammad Ayyub and petitioner were arrested as per arrest memos. Besides that, one accused, namely, Furqan who is a resident of Gali No.5, Chandbagh and he names Danish as neighbour which is contrary for the reason that the petitioner is not a resident of Chandbagh", Justice Kait said in the order.

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The court also found that the statement made by two police constables on February 27, 2020 under Section 161 of CrPC did not name Danish.

"It is much later, after a span of 12 days, in their supplementary statement dated 10.03.2020, the name of petitioner appears and the petitioner was initially arrested by Nandnagri police officials on 10.03.2020 from there he was taken to Crime Branch office, Chanakyapuri. Moreover, there are three public witnesses in this case and none of them have named the petitioner formally in their respective statements", the court said.

"Undisputedly, there is no CCTV footage or viral video to implicate the present petitioner," the court added.

Danish, a cab driver, was picked up by the police on March 10, 2020, while at work.

Senior advocate Salman Khurshid assisted by Advocates Bilal Anwar Khan and Anshu Kapoor, for Danish, submitted that there was no recovery from the petitioner which could connect him with the alleged charges in the FIR.

"Alleged statement by the petitioner is false, fabricated and illegal. It is factually incorrect that petitioner deposed any information to the police officials. He is educated only till class X. He was made to sign some plain papers which later found out to be disclosure statements attributed to him", Khurshid argued.

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Additional Solicitor General (ASG), S.V. Raju, opened the bail plea, and told the court that there were weapons in the hands of the accused, i.e. gun, stones, logs, sword, petrol bombs, chemical bombs, iron rod etc.

"Petitioner is a resident of Loni, Ghaziabad. However, on 23rd February and 24th February and at the time of incident, his location was at Chandbagh at the place of incident as per call detail records. Petitioner was actively involved in riots and was identified by the witnesses Ct. Sunil and Ct. Gyan of PS Dayalpur", he submitted.