Delhi riots: Court grants bail to two persons in murder case

New Delhi: A court here on Thursday granted bail two persons in a north east Delhi riots case, saying their presence was natural at the scene of crime as they resided in the vicinity.

Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat granted bail to Mohd Shariq and Mohd Shahzad on furnishing a bail bond of Rs 15,000 with one surety of like amount each in the case of alleged murder of one Prem Singh during the riots in the Welcome area.

The court noted that both the accused were arrested in November last year, almost seven months after the FIR was registered.

It said though the witnesses were there, yet no judicial test identification parade has been conducted and the alleged identification of the accused had taken place on the basis of their black and white photographs.

“As per prosecution, Imran was identified as a person who had held Prem Singh and Asif as the one who stabbed Prem Singh. The applicant”s (Shariq”s) role is that of participation in the unlawful assembly also constituting of accused Imran and Asif and thereby murder by way of imputation under section 149 (unlawful assembly) IPC.

“The accused (Shariq and Shahzad) resides in the vicinity of the scene of the crime and therefore their presence near the scene of crime was but natural,” it said in its order.

The court directed them not to leave Delhi without its prior permission and not to tamper with evidence.

During the hearing, advocate Pritish Sabharwal, appearing for both the accused, claimed they have been falsely implicated in the case.

Special Public Prosecutor Anuj Handa, appearing for the police, opposed the bail pleas saying Shariq and Shahzad allegedly were part of the unlawful assembly that had stabbed Singh.

Communal violence had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24 last year after clashes between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled out of control leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured.