Delhi riots: Court dismisses man's bail plea in murder case

Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat did not grant bail to Salman Khan in the case related to the death of Amaan due to gunshot injuries during the communal violence in Jafrabad area in February.The court said there was an alleged video footage of the accused showing him as part of the rioters and the jacket worn by him on the day of the incident has also been recovered.

A Delhi court Wednesday dismissed a bail application of an accused in a north east Delhi riots case, saying he was allegedly actively involved in the rioting and can be clearly seen in a video footage to be present with a large unlawful assembly which carried out the violence. Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat did not grant bail to Salman Khan in the case related to the death of Amaan due to gunshot injuries during the communal violence in Jafrabad area in February.

The court said there was an alleged video footage of the accused showing him as part of the rioters and the jacket worn by him on the day of the incident has also been recovered. “As stated in the charge ­sheet, the total number of police personnel stated to be injured in the entire incident is 19. Injuries to so many police personnel at the site shows the gravity of the situation and the offence committed. There is also no doubt that Amaan also died in the incident as a result of the gunshot injury.

“In the present case, there is a video footage of the accused (Khan) showing him as part of the rioters. The appli­cant is clearly visible in the footage. There are video footage of the entire incident of rioting and they have to be read and seen together. He is present with a large unlawful assembly which then did the violence,” it said in its order. It further said the contention of the accused that the footage did not prove his involvement in the offence of murder, was not tenable as every member of an unlawful assembly was deemed to be guilty of the offence committed by every member of that assembly in prosecution of a common object or which he knew was likely to be committed. “Moreover, in the present case, the accused is not only actively involved in the rioting and added to it is the action of other accused persons evidenced from the other video footage, which clearly shows violence by the unlawful assembly. Also, the jacket worn by the applicant on the day of the incident was also recovered. Thus, in view of the gravity of the offence and the role attributed to the accused and the material against him, this is not a fit case to grant bail to the accused Salman Khan,” the court said.

During the hearing, advocate Seema Mishra, appearing for Khan, said that the death of Amaan was not directly attributable to the accused and there was no direct evidence linking him to the offence. Mishra further alleged that the main culprits of the incident fled away from the spot after the riots and the police has falsely implicated Khan in the case.

Special Public Prosecutor Rajeev Krishan Sharma, appearing for the police, opposed the bail plea saying Khan was allegedly one of the “front liner active” rioters and his physical presence was established in the video clips of the incident at the spot during the entire period of protests and riots. The public prosecutor further alleged that the riots were allegedly carried out in an organised manner and deep rooted involvement of Khan has been established. Communal violence had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24 after clashes between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled out of control leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured.