Delhi violence: Court grants bail to school owner in riots case

The court further noted that the charge sheet filed against him in the case was bereft of material showing his alleged links with Popular Front of India, Pinjra Tod group and Muslim clerics. “It is also an admitted position on record that till date there has not been any FIR against the applicant with the Enforcement Directorate about he having acquired properties worth several crores.

A Delhi court has granted bail to the owner of a private school, arrested in a case related to communal violence in north east Delhi during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in February. Faisal Farooq, owner of Rajdhani School in Shiv Vihar locality was among the 18 arrested, for alleged involvement in burning and damaging the property of adjacent DRP Convent School.

Delhi Police had on June 3 filed a charge sheet against him and others for the incident. Granting relief to him, Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Yadav said in a June 20 order, it is prima facie not established that Farooq was present at the spot at the time of incident.

"Considering the facts and circumstances of the case in totality, I am prima facie satisfied that the applicant (Farooq) has made out a good case for grant of bail in the matter particularly on account of the fact that the investigation in the matter is complete. He has no involvement in his name and the trial in the matter is going to take long time," the judge said. The court further noted that the charge sheet filed against him in the case was bereft of material showing his alleged links with Popular Front of India, Pinjra Tod group and Muslim clerics.

"It is also an admitted position on record that till date there has not been any FIR against the applicant with the Enforcement Directorate about he having acquired properties worth several crores. The charge sheet is bereft of material showing the links of the applicant with PFI, Pinjra Tod group and Muslim clerics…. Be that as it may, in the charge sheet there is hardly any material to substantiate the allegation of terror funding against the applicant," the court said. It noted, "It is made clear that nothing in this order shall be construed an expression on the merits of evidence to be adduced in the matter." The court said the accused would be released from the jail on on furnishing a bail bond of Rs 50,000 along with two sureties of like amount. It directed Farooq to surrender his passport and should not leave the National Capital Region without permission of the court and should mark his attendence on every alternate Wednesday at the concerned police station.

The court said he should not be kept waiting for longer than an hour at the police station. It asked him not to tamper with evidence or influence the witnesses.

The Delhi Police had on June 3 filed a charge sheet before the court against Farooq and 17 others in the incident in which the building of a private school was burnt down in North East Delhi. The Crime Branch of Delhi police had filed the charge sheet against the accused for allegedly conspiring with Popular Front of India, Pinjratod group, Jamia Coordination Committee and Hazrat Nizamuddin Markaz for creating riots, in and around his school.

It has also been alleged that protestors against the CAA had received funds from PFI, formed in 2006 in Kerala as a successor to the National Democratic Front (NDF). Pinjra Tod (Break the Cage) was founded in 2015 with an aim to make hostels and paying guest accommodations less restrictive for women students. In 2015, Jamia Millia Islamia University had issued a notice restricting female students from staying out after 8 pm. When the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) questioned the Jamia administration on it, a group of women students decided to protest against the restrictions not only in Jamia but other universities in Delhi.

Later named as Pinjra Tod, the group mobilised people around several issues faced by female residents of hostels and PGs..

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)