Delhi riots: SC relaxes accused's bail condition, asks him to mark weekly attendance at crime branch

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday relaxed the bail conditions imposed on 2020 Delhi riots accused Meeran Haider and asked him to mark his attendance at the Crime Branch police station on every Saturday instead of twice weekly.

A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and Vipul M Pancholi said that as Haider is scheduled to get married on October 17, he is exempted from marking his attendance on October 17 and 24.

It said that the rest of the bail conditions, including not posting anything on social media and not participating in any programme or addressing or attending any gathering, rally or meeting, whether physically or virtually till conclusion of the trial, will remain unchanged.

The top court said that Haider will mark his attendance on every Saturday between 10am and 12pm at the Crime Branch police station.

Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for Delhi Police did not oppose the relaxation of bail conditions for Haider.

Senior advocate Siddharth Agarwal, appearing for Haider, sought relaxation of bail conditions on account of his marriage and said the trial court will not grant them relief in the matter.

Earlier, the top court had said that Haider would mark his attendance twice every week -- on Monday and Thursday between 10 am and 12 noon -- before the station house officer (SHO), police station crime branch of Delhi Police.

On January 5, the top court had granted bail to Haider, along with activists Gulfisha Fatima, Shifa Ur Rehman, Mohd Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmad in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case and imposed 11 conditions while emphasising that any misuse of liberty would attract cancellation of bail.

"Each of the appellants, namely Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa-ur-Rehman, Mohd. Saleem Khan, and Shadab Ahmed, shall personally appear twice a week, that is on Monday and Thursday between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon, before the Station House Officer, Police Station Crime Branch, Delhi Police, Office of the Commissioner of Police, Police Headquarters, Jai Singh Marg, New Delhi – 110001 and mark their attendance," it had said.

The top court had said the SHO shall maintain a separate register of attendance in respect of each of the accused and shall furnish a monthly compliance report to the trial court, which shall be placed on the main record of the case.

On the same day, observing that reasonable grounds exist for believing that allegations against Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam are prima facie true, the top court had refused bail to them in the case.

It had said Khalid and Imam, who have been incarcerated since 2020, can file fresh bail applications after the examination of protected witnesses or after one year.

The February 2020 riots in northeast Delhi broke out during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), leaving 53 people dead and more than 700 injured.

Delhi Police had arrested 18 people in the conspiracy case. Out of them, 11 accused have got bail so far.

Imam was arrested on January 28, 2020 for speeches made during the anti-CAA protests. He was later arrested in a larger conspiracy case in August 2020. Khalid was arrested on September 13, 2020 on charges of delivering provocative speeches on February 24 and 25 when Donald Trump, in his first term as US president, visited India.

All the accused were booked under the stringent anti-terror UAPA and provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for allegedly being the "masterminds" of the riots.