In a significant hearing on Friday, the Supreme Court evaluated the bail plea of the accused in the Delhi riots, with a particular focus on Gulfisha Fatima's prolonged incarceration. Representing Fatima, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi persistently called for her bail, emphasizing her 5-year and 5-month confinement. On September 16, 2020, a chargesheet was filed, yet the authorities have persistently introduced supplementary chargesheets as an annual routine.
Abhishek Manu Singhvi highlighted the impossibility of indefinite investigations, urging the court to eventually address the broader issue of these supplementary chargesheets. He called for a review of the timeline detailing the serious delays caused by the prosecution.
The senior advocate stressed the unfairness when the court itself recognized Gulfisha's entitlement to bail on an equal basis, asserting that she had already served her time behind bars for over five years.
He noted that from 2020 to 2023, six different chargesheets were submitted. Amid the case, Gulfisha remains the only woman in detention.
Singhvi argued that despite no charges being formally framed, the prosecution insists on detaining Gulfisha due to the presence of 148 protected witnesses and 900 others.
On Friday, the bail pleas of accused Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid, Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima, Shifa-ur-Rehman, and Mohammad Salim Khan were deferred till November 3 after arguments for three suspects were presented in the Supreme Court hearing concerning the 2020 Delhi riots case.
Defending Gulfisha Fatima, one of the six accused, Singhvi expressed concern over the significant delay, highlighting the postponement in the trial's commencement. Singhvi cited unwarranted trial delays and noted that charges are yet to be finalized.
In court proceedings, Singhvi argued against Gulfisha's alleged involvement as part of the Pinjra Tod group, noting that similar accused, Devangana and Natasha, received bail. He emphasized that Gulfisha was accused of establishing protest sites, none of which were linked to violent incidents. No evidence of any harmful substances was found at these locations.
Senior lawyer Kapil Sibal defended co-accused Umar Khalid during the Friday hearing, stating that Khalid was not present in Delhi during the riots.
Kapil Sibal conveyed to Justices Arvind Kumar and N V Anjaria that there is no recovery of money, weapons, or any physical evidence linking Umar Khalid to the 2020 Delhi riots.
Sibal expressed, "There are 751 FIRs, with only one accusing me. If this was a conspiracy, it's astonishing!"
"If I (Umar Khalid) had orchestrated these riots during the specified dates, I wasn't in Delhi," he claimed.
He further stated that "none of the witness statements effectively link the petitioner to any violent events."
Lawyer Siddharth Dave presented arguments for accused Sharjeel Imam, highlighting that Sharjeel is a student who has been in judicial custody for five years and nine months, as of January 2020. The prosecution took three years to complete the investigation, with Dave arguing that Sharjeel Imam remains in prison despite the case being declared investigated a year ago in 2024. There was no delay from my end. Note that Sharjeel already faced detention for another FIR filed in January 2020.
