“SHAHRUKH PATHAN BAIL PLEA DISMISSED BY DELHI COURT”

New Delhi – A Delhi court rejected Shahrukh Pathan’s bail plea filed by him. Shahrukh Pathan was arrested on charges of opening fire on February 24 during violence in North-East Delhi. In February, clashes broke out in the North-East of Delhi between the people supporting and opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Additional Session Judge Sanjeev Kumar Malhotra while dismissing the Bail plea has noted that “The Right to Protest is a fundamental right in a democracy but the right of peaceful protest and open criticism of government policies does not extend to disturb the public order. Keeping in view the totality of facts and circumstances of the case at this stage, I am not inclined to grant bail to the accused. Bail application accordingly stands dismissed,”
Lawyer for the Accused, Advocate Asghar Khan argued that incident occurred in the spur of the moment and his client has clean antecedents and has no criminal history. It was also argued that there was delay in lodging FIR and also on the ground at the current Covid-19 situation, there is a high risk of getting infected with the virus in a jail.

During the proceedings, the Special Public Prosecutor D.K. Bhatia appearing for Delhi Police strongly opposed the bail application and told the court the investigation is still going and also investigating Pathan’s role.

A FIR was registered against Shahrukh on the statement of head constable Deepak Dahiya, who he had pointed the gun at. As per Deepak Dahiya, he was present at a 66 feet road in Jafrabad, under the metro line, where so many people had gathered illegally and were raising slogans against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

At that moment, the accused Shahrukh Pathan was standing at a distance of around 9-10 feet from the complainant, the accused aimed the gun at the complainant and started firing with the intention to kill.

Shahrukh was booked for offences such as attempt to murder, criminal force to deter public servant, and possession of a dangerous weapon. Later, charges for rioting and unlawful assembly were also added to the case.
On May 1st, a 350 pages charge sheet was filed against Shahrukh Pathan.

Pathan has been charged under FIR No.51/2020, P.S. Jaffarabad, under Sections 186/307/353 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Sections 25 & 27 of the Arms Act.