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Synopsis

The Delhi High Court on Monday transferred the bail plea of Khalid Saifi, an accused in the North East Delhi Riots Case before the Special Bench hearing the connected matters. 

A Division Bench of Justice Mukta Gupta and Justice Anish Dayal have listed the matter before the Special Bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar for July 22, 2022, upon special request of the petitioner's counsel. 

The Special bench has also been hearing other bail applications connected to the North East Delhi Riots. 

Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad did not oppose the request. 

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 the 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 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 attended a meeting at Jangpura, Delhi which was also attended by Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Meeran Haider and others. 

He has also attended the meeting one 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]