On August 5, a Delhi Court refused accused Devangana Kalita’s plea seeking access to entire CCTV footage pertaining to the North-East Delhi area, and chats of police officials’ WhatsApp groups in a case concerning Delhi Riots 2020. The Pinjra Tod activist, Devangana Kalita, is one of the accused in an Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) case alleging larger conspiracy behind the riots.
Karkardooma Court’s Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat agreed with the Delhi Police’s contention that the relevant CCTV footage have been supplied to the concerned accused, and that the same need not be supplied to Devangana Kalita in the UAPA case.
The Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad informed the court that relevant CCTV footage have been filed with the chargesheet and supplied to the concerned accused persons. The SPP further submitted that the documents not supplied to Devangana Kalita include CCTV footage where investigation is still going on and the accused are still being apprehended. Therefore, such copies cannot be supplied to the accused.
The SPP further submitted that relevant material has been supplied to the accused but communication made within police officials’ WhatsApp groups were not shared as these groups may contain sensitive information or privileged communication, and thus, cannot be disclosed.
Observing the nature of the case and fact that investigations in individual riots cases are ongoing, the court agreed with the SPP’s contentions that the footage relevant for individual cases has been supplied to the concerned accused and that the same need not be supplied to Devangana Kalita.
“This court had earlier ordered that supply of the complete chats of entire WhatsApp group to all accused persons but on the aspect of official/police WhatsApp group chats, it contains information about police officials and their activities and the relevant chats/relied upon have been filed and supplied. In my view, supply of the entire chats of the said group is not required under Section 207 Cr.P.C. The same would hold for other police WhatsApp groups,” the court said.
Thus, the court disposed of Devangana Kalita’s interlocutory application moved u/s 207 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
Furthermore, on August 5, the Delhi Court also ordered day-to-day hearings on framing of charges against persons accused in the larger conspiracy case concerning Delhi Riots 2020. The court listed the matter for arguments on point of charge on September 11, and ordered that the SPP would begin the arguments on the stipulated date.
The accused in the case are Tahir Hussain, Khalid Saifi, Ishrat Jahan, Meeran Haider, Gulfisha, Shifa-Ur-Rehman, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Shadab Ahmed, Tasleem Ahmed, Saleem Malik, Mohd Saleem Khan, Athar Khan, Safoora Zargar, Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid, Faizan Khan, Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kaliti, Suleman Siddiqui and Amanullah.
The court further directed all accused persons to appear before the court physically on September 11. The court also directed the IO to be present before the court on the date.
“The compliance under Section 207 Cr.P.C qua all the chargesheeted accused persons is complete. Hence, list the matter for arguments on the point of charge on 11.09.2023 onwards for day to day hearing. Ld. Special Public Prosecutor shall begin the arguments on 11.09.2023,” the court said.
The Delhi Police has filed four chargesheets in the case, which is being probed by the special cell. The police filed the first chargesheet on September 16, 2020. The supplementary chargesheets were filed on November 22, 2020, February 24, 2021, and March 2, 2022.
