NEW DELHI: The Karkardooma Court in Delhi has rejected the bail application of Shahrukh Pathan, the “poster boy” of 2020 North East Delhi riots whose picture of pointing a pistol at a policeman during the clashes had gone viral on the internet.
Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai said that the Delhi High Court had denied bail to Pathan in October last year and that the circumstances had not changed since.
“Accordingly, this Court is of the view that when the Hon’ble High Court has declined bail to the applicant/accused vide order dated 22.10.2024 and the circumstances have not changed, except the fact that almost one and a half years have passed, this Court should not grant bail to him even now,” the court held.
The case pertains to an incident during the 2020 riots in North East Delhi when Pathan was captured pointing what appeared to be a countrymade pistol towards a policeman.
In his bail application, Pathan said that he has been lodged in jail since his arrest in March 2020 and this means he has already undergone more than half of the maximum 10-year sentence prescribed for the offence under Section 307 of the IPC.
However, the prosecution strongly objected to his bail, saying that this is the 11th time the accused has sought bail but all his earlier pleas were rejected.
Prosecution argued that the benefit of bail after undergoing half of the maximum sentence cannot be granted to someone who is facing trial in another case.
The judge admitted this argument and said that Pathan is facing trial in another case linked to Delhi riots and therefore cannot be granted bail under Section 479 of the BNSS. - The Statesman/ANN
