NEW DELHI: A Delhi court granted bail to a man accused in a northeast Delhi rioting case in February, but veered from the normal and chose to express the details of the order in a unique manner: as a poem.
Disposing of the bail plea of the accused, Babu, on Saturday, additional sessions judge Amitabh Rawat’s order stated: “Babu pleading for his bail; State opposing tooth and nail. Summers bygone, winters have arrived; But crime you did, and Rahul cried. I am not the one, I am not the one; Too grave the charge, don’t pretend.”
The reference to Rahul in the versified order was to the man who claimed to have suffered a gunshot injury during the rioting, implicating Babu. The court had observed that Rahul gave a fake address in his medical papers and vanished before the cops could record his statement in the case.
The order continued in the poetic vein, “Whom did I attack, where is he; Oh! That we know, in the trial we will see. You say I have said & I deny from the first blush; Rahul may be gone yet Satish said. Didn’t we say; don’t rush; Let me go, let me go, even Imran is on bail. Even then, even then; it wouldn’t be a smooth sail.”
The verses require some explanation. In the above stanza, the court was referring to constable Satish and co-accused Imran. Satish was the only person, as noted by the court, to have identified Babu, and nothing else was brought on record by police. The court also observed that Babu’s case of bail was on a better footing than for Imran, who was already on bail.
The lyrical court order went on further: “Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop; I have heard, heard a lot. Mind is clear, with claims tall; It’s my time to take a call. Babu has a sordid past; proof is scant, which may not last. His omnipotence can’t be assumed; Peril to vanished Rahul, is legally fumed. Take your freedom from the cage you are in; Till the trial is over, the state is reigned in. The state proclaims; to have the cake and eat it too; The court comes calling; before the cake is eaten, bake it too.”
It may be recalled in regard to these lines that Babu, who was arrested on April 8, had a previous criminal record. But pointing out that “proof is scant”, the court granted Babu bail, while ordering him not to leave the capital or tamper with evidence.