Delhi riots: HC vacates bail granted to Rajdhani School owner

New Delhi: After there seemed no sign of conclusion of the tussle between the Centre and the Delhi government inside the courtroom, the Delhi High Court on Thursday vacated the bail granted to Delhi riots accused school owner Faisal Farooq.

While passing the order, the court noted that the respondent (Faisal) was recently arrested in another case relating to the Delhi riots registered at Dayalpur police station under 147,148,149, 427 and various other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and The Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984 and hence he will remain behind bars until and unless bail order is passed in the new case.

"Therefore, his case before the trial court may be prejudiced by the interim order of this Court. I vacate the said order," said a single-judge bench of the high court presided over by Justice Suresh Kumar Kait.

He added that this controversy between the Modi government and the Arvind Kejriwal government over who will represent Delhi Police in the matter has been going on since June 22 and the same is likely to continue.

"If that is so, the stay remained in force, it will prejudice the accused," Justice Kait said.

During the course of hearing, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aman Lekhi said that in the present case with the request of Delhi Police and the Lieutenant Governor (LG), Delhi, the appointment of Amit Mahajan and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta along with Lekhi and other officers were made in a communication dated July 1, 2020.

"Thus, Mr Mahajan has right to file this petition and the law officer of Centre has the right to appear against the order passed by Session Judge," said Lekhi.

Countering the claims of the ASG, Delhi government standing counsel (Criminal) Rahul Mehra told the bench that in the present case, the appointment has been made without consultation with the council of ministers.

The court then passed the said order while placing the matter for further hearing on July 22.

Justice Kait also asked both the Centre and the state counsels to file written submissions on the matter of who will appear for the Delhi Police.

Earlier on Wednesday, after the tussle between the counsels of both the governments again popped up in the courtroom, the Delhi High Court while taking strong note of the same remarked "Courts are not here to solve your personal issues".

"Courts aren't here to solve your personal issues. Instead of wasting the time of the public, you both should concentrate on greater issues, the country is already dealing with grave and tough time," Justice Kait had said.

The court's observation had come while it was hearing the petition filed by the Delhi police seeking cancellation of bail granted to Rajdhani School owner Faisal Farooq in a case relating to the Delhi riots case.

In its charge sheet, the Delhi police has categorically mentioned that Farooq visited Deoband on February 23, just one day before the riots began in Shiv Vihar and its neighbouring areas.

The case relates to the riots that broke out on February 24 outside Shiv Vihar's Rajdhani School where another school named DRP Convent and an adjacent sweet shop were burnt and a man trapped inside the shop died. Eighteen people including Farooq were arrested by the police in this regard.

"The rioters had camped inside and fired bullets from the terrace of Rajdhani School. They also threw petrol bombs, acid, bricks, stones and other missiles using an improvised large iron catapult, specially installed for the purpose, from the terrace of Rajdhani School, the police said.

The charge sheet states that Farooq had hatched a conspiracy to precipitate and aggravate riots, in and around Rajdhani School. On his instructions, the adjacent and rival DRP Convent School, 2 parking lots run by the other party and the building of Anil Sweets were systematically destroyed by the mob.