The Delhi High Court has officially lifted the restriction it previously imposed on the trial court, allowing it to issue a conclusive order on charges related to the Delhi Riots conspiracy case. This development follows the decision by Justice Neena Bansal Krishna, who dismissed a petition filed by activist Devangana Kalita. Kalita, associated with the Pinjra Tod women’s collective, sought access to video footage and WhatsApp communications used by the prosecution in the case against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) protests.
On September 12, 2024, Justice Krishna had initially instructed that while arguments on charges could proceed in the trial court, no final order should be issued. However, this stay has now been vacated as Kalita’s request for the said recordings and chats was denied. In a separate plea, Kalita successfully obtained permission to inspect the malkhana, a secure storage area for evidence within a police station. The court’s detailed orders on these matters are still pending.
In an interesting turn, on June 4, the Delhi Police approached Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya with a request to reassign the case to another judge. The police pointed out that Justice Krishna had not delivered a judgment on Kalita’s petition, despite reserving orders in January. They cited a Supreme Court directive concerning the timelines for delivering judgments in reserved cases, which they argued had been exceeded in this instance. Chief Justice Upadhyaya indicated he would review the situation administratively.
The Karkardooma Court initiated its hearing on the conspiracy charges on September 5, 2024. Among the accused are noted individuals such as Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, and Safoora Zargar, among others. The charges against them involve serious allegations under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
Representing Devangana Kalita were legal counsels Adit S. Pujari, Chaitanya Sundriyal, Manvendra Singh Shekhwat, Siddharth Kaushal, and Harshwardhan Pushkin Sharma. The Delhi Police’s legal team included Special Public Prosecutors Amit Prasad and Madhukar Pandey, along with Advocates Ayodhya Prasad, Aarush Bhatia, Dhruv Pande, Saravjeet Singh, and Harshil Jain.
