By Muslim Mirror Staff
A session court has granted bail to Shahrukh Pathan, an accused in Delhi Riots.
Justice Amitabh Rawat, an additional session judge at Karkardooma Court in his order said” This order shall depose off the application under Section 439 Cr PC of the applicant/accused Shahrukh Pathan for grant of regular bail in the present matter”.
The arguments of the bail were held on September 25, 2023 by Advocate Khalid Akhtar.
Mr. Akhtar vehemently relied his arguments upon the records available. Advocate Khalid Akhtar argued that in the instant case that Shahrukh Pathan is a victim of malicious prosecution wherein the victim, witnesses and evidences have been planted to falsely implicate the applicant and yet without any evidence, Pathan has been languishing behind bars for more than 3 years.
Advocate Khalid argued the inconsistent statements of the victim, multiple FIRs and further the exact same statements of police witnesses all corroborate to depict malice of the State.
Advocate Khalid, further relying on order on charge by the Karkadooma Sessions Court judge, Amitabh Rawat, argued that, “…it is not the case of the prosecution that the said accused persons themselves fired upon Rohit Shukla or injured police officials…”, and that, “…the case against the accused person is based upon the principle of Section 149 IPC as the actual shooter could not be particularly identified”.
While placing reliance on the relevant Supreme Court precedents, Advocate Khalid Akhtar got his client bail.
Pathan gained notoriety for a viral image showing him pointing a pistol at a Delhi Police constable during the 2020 riots.
The accused had been facing multiple charges, including rioting, being armed with a deadly weapon, unlawful assembly, and attempted murder, under FIR 49/2020 at the Jafrabad police station.
Advocate Akhtar argued for his bail, emphasizing the changed circumstances. He pointed out that key prosecution witnesses had been examined after his earlier bail application was rejected, and they expressed the intention to withdraw the pending bail application from the high court in favor of seeking relief from the trial court.
It was also noted that Pathan’s bail plea in the High Court had been pending since January 2022.
Furthermore, Pathan’s counsel contended that the case against him relied solely on “circumstantial evidence,” as there were no eyewitnesses and no CCTV footage of the incident. They raised concerns about the motivation and fabrication of the entire case, claiming that those named in the FIR and those identified were already out on bail. Pathan’s counsel stressed that he had been in custody for nearly three and a half years.
The Delhi Police had alleged that the mob had inflicted injuries on police personnel and that one victim, Rohit Shukla, had sustained a gunshot injury. Previously, the trial court had framed charges against Pathan in December 2021 and denied him bail, leading him to approach the High Court last year. The High Court had issued a notice to the Delhi Police in January 2022.