The Delhi High Court on Friday granted bail to 5 people accused in connection with a case pertaining to the murder of head constable Ratan Lal and injuries caused to a DCP during the anti-CAA riots that convulsed the national capital in February 2020.
The high court gave the order on 5 of the 11 pleas filed in the case. The order on pleas filed by 6 other accused will be pronounced sometime next week including the hearing on Umar Khalid’s bail which is due on Monday.
The bail was granted to five accused named Furkan, Mohd Arif, Shadab Ahmed, Suvaleen and Tabassum on a personal bond of ₹ 35,000 each with one surety and directed them not to leave the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT) of Delhi without prior permission of the court.
While passing the order, Justice Subramoniam Prasad of the high court said, “The court is of the opinion that the petitioners cannot be made to languish behind bars for a longer period of time and that the veracity of the allegations levelled against them can be tested during the trial.”
Ratan Lal was killed on February 24 in the violence that broke out during the Delhi riots. He was rushed to a hospital but succumbed to his injuries. His post-mortem report said he died of a bullet injury. Rattan Lal is survived by his wife and three minor children.
The court earlier discharged former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain’s brother Shah Alam and two others in a case related to alleged loot and vandalisation of a shop during the violence in the Chand Bagh area.
Thursday, a Delhi court had slammed the Delhi Police over its investigation into a 2020 riots case. The court had stated that the police’s failure to conduct a proper probe will “torment” the sentinels of democracy when the case will be revisited in history books. The court had described the violence as the worst communal riots in Delhi since Partition.
