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Synopsis

The counsel for the accused in the 2020 Delhi Riots, Khalid Saifi submitted before the Delhi High Court today that the baseless remark used everywhere is that "Aurton ko aage baetha diya" (women were asked to sit in the front) during the protests as if they don't have a mind of their own.

A special bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar was hearing appeals filed by the 2020 Delhi riots accused Khalid Saifi and others against their bail rejection by the trial Court.

Senior Advocate Rebecca John appearing for Saifi submitted that Saifi was a member of the group United Against Hate Okhla but the Delhi Police have only shown the membership details and there is no message to corroborate that Saifi was involved in the violence that took place. 

John further submitted, "There is no CrPC 161 or 168 statement stating that I attended the protest, what they are relying on is a personal WhatsApp chat."

Additionally, John informed the bench that a protected witness Jupiter in his first statement didn't make any allegations against me, however, after 4 months he made another supplementary statement wherein he said that I participated in the meeting. "It was a public meeting anyone would have attended it," John added.

The bench will continue hearing the matter on November 29 at 2:15 PM.

The Delhi High Court on May 9, 2022 had issued notice to the Government of NCT of Delhi on Khalid Saifi's plea challenging the trial court's rejection of his bail application. 

Appearing for Khalid Saifi, Senior Advocate Rebecca John submitted that her case stood at a different footing than that of the other accused in the related cases. She submitted that she would wait for the other co-accused to conclude their arguments before showing how Khalid Saifi's case could be distinguished from the rest. 

Trial Court Order

Earlier Trial Court's Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat dismissed Saifi's bail plea stating that the allegations against him seemed prima facie true. 

Senior Advocate Rebecca John had argued that Khalid Saifi was falsely implicated and that the entire case of the prosecution remained unsubstantiated and devoid of evidence. She had submitted that the prosecution relied on a WhatsApp Group called "DPSG". However, Khalid Saifi's participation in the said group was only peripheral and could not be used as evidence of any criminal conspiracy. 

SPP Amit Prasad had submitted that Khalid Saifi was a member of the WhatsApp Group DPSG, CAB Team and United Against Hate (UAH) Okhla. He had also alleged that Khalid attended a meeting at Jangpura, Delhi which was also attended by Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Meeran Haider and others. 

Allegedly, Khalid Saifi also attended the meeting on December 26, 2019 at Lodhi Colony after which DPSG was created on December 28, 2019. 

Cause Title:- Abdul Khalid Saifi @ Khalid v State [Crl 210/2022]