Court takes note of charge sheet against 15 Delhi riots accused

NEW DELHI:  A Delhi court on Thursday took cognisance of the charge sheet filed against 15 persons under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in connection with the riots in northeast Delhi in February.

On Wednesday, Special Cell of Delhi Police had filed a voluminous charge sheet against the accused under various sections of UAPA, Indian Penal Code, Arms Act and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act. All the accused were produced before Karkardooma court on Thursday. Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat took cognisance of all the offences, except for some sections for which sanction are required.

“I have taken the cognisance of the offences mentioned in the charge sheet, except for some offences for which sanction is still awaited under section 196 CrPC,” the judge said. The charge sheet names Tahir Hussain, Safoora Zargar, Gulfisha Khatoon, Devangana Kalita, Shafa-ur-Rehman, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Natasha Narwal, Abdul Khalid Saifi, Ishrat Jahan, Meeran Haidar, Shadab Ahamd, Talsim Ahmad, Saleem Malik, Mohammed Salim Khan and Athar Khan.

Tahir Hussain has been named as a main accused in the charge sheet. The charge sheet, however, does not name Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Mohammed Pervez Ahmad, Mohammed Ilyas, Danish and Faizal Khan. Their names will be added in the supplementary charge sheet. The voluminous charge sheet was filed in little less than 200 days of filing an FIR to investigate the ‘conspiracy’ angle behind the riots that rocked northeast Delhi in February this year. Clashes between the citizenship law supporters and protesters had spiralled out of control, leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured.