'There Is No Point...': Delhi Police On Plea Seeking Status Of Probe Into Larger Conspiracy Behind 2020 Riots

Special Public Prosecutor for Delhi Police submitted that he is not going beyond the point of maintainability of applications at this point.

The Delhi Police on Friday concluded its arguments on the application of accused persons seeking direction on the status of the investigation into the larger conspiracy of the Delhi riots of 2020, as reported by the news agency ANI. The Special Public Prosecutor for Delhi Police submitted that he is not going beyond the point of maintainability of applications at this point. There is no point in going beyond that when the applications are not maintainable at all. He further stated that the accused have no right to know the status of the investigation.

The court was hearing the conspiracy case under the UAPA registered against 18 persons in connection with the riots. The accused, including Meeran Haider, Umar Khalid, Tahir Hussain, Khalid Saifi, Sharjeel Imam, Gulfisha Fatima, Athar Khan, Devangana Kalita, Natasha Narwal and Asif Iqbal Tanha, face charges under UAPA, IPC, Arms Act and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.

Earlier on Tuesday, prosecution termed the applications as "frivolous", "speculative" and "presumptive". Special public prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad told the court of additional sessions judge Amitabh Rawat that the accused did not have any right in law to seek the overall status of an investigation or the timeline for its completion before arguments on the charges proceeded, as reported by PTI.  

"All the applications do not contain any provision in law. Why is it important to see if there is a provision of law or not? Because when the court decides to entertain an application, maintainability goes to the root of the matter. Without any provision and law being there, an application cannot be entertained at all," said Prasad, as quoted by PTI.

This came after Kalita, Narwal, Tanha, Haider and Khan moved applications seeking clarity from Delhi Police on the overall status of the probe. The SPP said the pleas were "nothing but attempts to derail the trial". Referring to the application filed by Kalita and Narwal asking Delhi Police to indicate when the investigation will be completed, Prasad said the plea assumes that the case diaries have not been inspected by the court.