Investigation into media leak should be probed by independent dept:Delhi riots accused tells HC

Asif Iqbal Tanha, a student of Jamia Millia Islamia, who is charge sheeted in the Delhi riots conspiracy case, told the high court that sensitive information was leaked during the course of the investigation to people who were not supposed to have it.Arguing before Justice Mukta Gupta, his counsel said it was necessary to insulate the investigation from the persons who are to be subjected to the scrutiny.

A Delhi riots accused Wednesday alleged before the Delhi High Court that an internal enquiry conducted by the police into the leakage of sensitive information to media about the probe “yielded no results” and was an “eyewash” and the investigation into it should be conducted by an independent department. Asif Iqbal Tanha, a student of Jamia Millia Islamia, who is charge sheeted in the Delhi riots conspiracy case, told the high court that sensitive information was leaked during the course of the investigation to people who were not supposed to have it.

Arguing before Justice Mukta Gupta, his counsel said it was necessary to “insulate the investigation” from the persons who are to be subjected to the scrutiny. “If an enquiry is not yielding the result, it is only important to go to the next step, which is investigation,” said senior counsel Siddharth Aggarwal, appearing for Tanha, who was arrested in May 2020 and was released from jail in June after the high court granted him bail in the riots case on larger conspiracy.

“When enquiry yields no result, where people to be investigated are the same as those conducting it, where enquiry was within closed doors with no oversight, there is a mandate of entrusting that investigation to an independent department,” the senior advocate contended before the judge who posted the next hearing on October 1.

Tanha had moved court last year after his alleged disclosure statement in the main charge sheet filed in a riots case pertaining to the larger conspiracy, recorded by the probe agency during the investigation, was allegedly leaked to the media even before cognisance was taken by the concerned court.

He has been booked under stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The senior counsel submitted that in its response filed in the matter, the police itself conceded to being aggrieved by the leak and it should thus take action against whoever was responsible. “Facts are clear that sensitive information during the course of the investigation was leaked to people who were not supposed to have it. (It was) leaked to my prejudice. Despite enquiry, they are not in the position to assist this court,” said the counsel adding that registration of FIR was ''at the front and centre'' of his submission.

“I'm not saying Delhi police leaked it. I'm saying Delhi police is the custodian and must answer for it. If an official file or register had been missing, there would have been 15 FIRs by now. If I had shared it. I want them to feel the same outrage that I'm feeling right now,” he added. Alleging that the police failed in its duty as a custodian of the information collected during an investigation, the lawyer said, “an attempt is being made in this case by the police to say look left, look right. I'm (police) the primary custodian but don't look at me. It was fortunate for me that I was not on bail. A hype is made out of a case and the accused has to suffer.” The senior lawyer, who concluded his submissions, highlighted that the alleged disclosure statement was leaked in spite of a high court order prohibiting sharing of any information into riots cases till trial.

When supplementary charge sheet was filed, there was again a leak to media, he added. In its status report filed the case, the police has said that while the enquiry could not establish how the details of investigation were shared with media, no prejudice was caused to Tanha in his exercise of right to free and fair trial.

“The enquiry officer, during the enquiry could not establish the officers/office from where the details of investigation were shared with the media,” the status report said.

It further claimed that various media personnel, who were examined during the process, “refused to share the details of their source” and directions are being issued to handle the case files with utmost alacrity to ensure that “such issues are not raised in future”.

Delhi police conducted the ''comprehensive enquiry'' into the allegations of leakage and submitted its report in a sealed cover following the orders passed by the court. The court had earlier expressed dissatisfaction over the police's vigilance enquiry report into the leakage, terming it to be worse than one done in a petty theft case.

Tanha, in his petition, said he was aggrieved by various publications reporting that he has confessed to orchestrating the Delhi riots and alleged that he was coerced to sign certain papers in the effective custody of police.

He had contended that the action of two media houses in placing contents from charges sheet in the media violated the programme code.

The police had said that Tanha, a resident of Abul Fazal Enclave in Shaheen Bagh, was a member of the Students Islamic Organization and was part of the Jamia Coordination Committee which spearheaded protests against the new citizenship law. PTI ADS RKS RKS