It is the Constitutional duty of the court to ensure there is no "arbitrary deprivation of personal liberty in the face of excess of State power", the Delhi High Court has observed while granting bail to two accused in a case of murder of an elderly woman in connection with the 2020 north-east Delhi riots. While the high court granted bail to accused Arun Kumar and Ravi Kumar, it denied relief to the third accused, Vishal Singh, saying he was not merely a curious onlooker.
The accused are facing prosecution in the murder case of 85-year-old Akbari Begum that was registered at Bhajanpura police station in northeast Delhi. "It is the Constitutional duty of the court to ensure that there is no arbitrary deprivation of personal liberty in the face of excess of State power. Bail is the rule and jail is the exception, and courts must exercise their jurisdiction to uphold the tenets of personal liberty, subject to rightful regulation of the same by validly enacted legislation, Justice Subramonium Prasad said.
Three separate orders were passed by the court on Tuesday and made available on Wednesday. The high court said the Supreme Court has time and again held that courts need to be alive to both ends of the spectrum, that is, the duty to ensure proper enforcement of criminal law, as also that the law does not become a tool for targeted harassment.
It further stated that when there is a crowd involved, at the juncture of grant or denial of bail, the court must hesitate before arriving at the conclusion that every member of the unlawful assembly inhabits a common intention to accomplish the unlawful common object. It cannot be assumed that every member of the unlawful assembly could be found guilty of the offence of Section 302 (murder) of the IPC and, therefore, every decision on an application of bail must be based on a careful consideration of the facts and circumstances in the matter therein, the high court said.
According to the prosecution, the woman, a resident of Bhajanpura, was inside her house when a mob allegedly set it on fire leading to her death. It alleged that while other members of the family climbed up to the rooftop to save themselves, Begum could not leave her second-floor room and climb up using the ladder due to her advanced age and she died of suffocation.
An FIR was lodged under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including murder, attempt to murder, dacoity with murder, and rioting. Regarding accused Arun Kumar, the court said even though he was spotted with a lathi, he has not been seen attacking any person with the lathi.
It said he has been in custody for almost 21 months and trial will continue for a long time and it would not be prudent to keep him behind bars for an undefined period of time at this stage. Regarding Ravi Kumar, the court said the video footage only showed him muffling his face and he was not seen actively participating with the mob and seemed to be a curious onlooker.
While denying bail to accused Vishal Singh, the court said it was of the opinion that his footage at the crime scene was quite egregious, and was therefore sufficient to keep him in custody. Communal clashes had broken out in north-east Delhi on February 24, 2020, after violence between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled out of control leaving at least 53 people dead and around 700 injured.
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