Delhi Riots: No Plan to Shift Shahrukh Pathan Out of High Risk Ward, Tihar Jail Tells Court

Tihar jail on Wednesday informed a Delhi court that there was no plan to shift Shahrukh Pathan, whose picture showing him pointing a gun at unarmed Delhi Police head constable during the communal riots went viral on social media, out of high risk ward.

Pathan, who is currently lodged in a high-risk security ward at Tihar Jail, had claimed that the authorities were planning to shift him in a general ward with other prisoners which causes “threat to his life”.

In response to an application moved by him against reported claim, duty superintendent of jail number 4, Tihar, told the court that “there is no proposal to shift Pathan out of his current ward.”

Metropolitan Magistrate Fahaduddin disposed of the application noting that “In view of reply of the deputy superintendent, central jail number 4, Tihar, no further action is required.

"Application stands disposed of accordingly (dismissed),” the judge said.

In his application, Pathan had said he wanted to continue staying with the high-risk prisoners as "there is a threat to his life and apprehension that any untoward incident may take place at any point of time, if he is shifted with general inmates".

He had filed the application claiming that he was orally informed by the jail authorities that he would be shifted from the high-risk prisoners'' jail to a cell with general inmates.

Pathan, 23, was arrested on March 3 from Uttar Pradesh''s Shamli district.

The police registered a case against him under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Arms Act.

The pistol was recovered from his house, police had said.

In the viral video, Pathan, a resident of northeast Delhi''s Ghonda area, could be seen pointing his pistol at the policeman on the Jaffrabad-Maujpur road on February 24.

Police had said after seeing himself on news channels following the incident, the accused changed his clothes and fled to Punjab. He then moved to Bareilly in UP before hiding at a friend''s house in Shamli in the state.

In February, clashes broke out in northeast Delhi between the groups supporting and opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, in which at least 53 people died and about 200 were injured.