India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI: The Uttarakhand High Court has granted bail to 50 accused individuals, including six women, who were allegedly victims of police brutality during the Haldwani riots.
The court ordered their release on conditional bail, requiring a personal bond and surety after their bail applications were approved. These individuals had been arrested in the second week of February.
A two-judge bench, comprising Justice Pankaj Purohit and Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari, delivered the decision last Saturday after hearing the arguments from both sides. The High Court had received a total of six petitions on behalf of the 50 accused, leading to seven hearings. The court announced its verbal decision today, with a written judgment expected to be provided to the parties soon.
The accused were represented by Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, under the direction of Maulana Arshad Madani, who provided them with legal assistance. Senior advocate Nitya Rama Krishna argued on behalf of the accused, stating that the authorities had applied the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) after their arrest to prevent them from obtaining bail and to give the investigating agency more time to conduct its investigation.
Adv Rama Krishna further argued that the Sessions Court had rejected the default bail plea of the accused, citing the ongoing Lok Sabha elections as the reason for not filing the charge sheet on time. She contended that granting the police additional time to file the case was unlawful. She emphasized that the justification provided by the Sessions Court was unconstitutional and unnecessary, as the law requires that a charge sheet be filed against the accused within a specific timeframe, failing which the accused becomes entitled to default bail, regardless of the charges.
Mrs Rama Krishna cited several rulings by the Supreme Court and various High Courts, which have underscored that default bail is a constitutional right of the accused and cannot be denied. Despite this, the accused continued to be entitled to default bail even after the default period had expired. In this case, the police had filed a charge sheet in the Sessions Court after the High Court granted bail.
The senior advocate also pointed out that the investigating agency had not filed the charge sheet within 90 days and had instead requested an additional 28 days from the court, which was legally incorrect. Therefore, under Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and Section 43D(2) of the UAPA, the accused should be released from jail due to the denial of bail.
During the hearing, the senior advocate also brought to the court’s attention the excessive police brutality, highlighting the case of a 65-year-old elderly Muslim woman and six other women who had been imprisoned under the UAPA. The bench questioned Advocate J.S. Warks, representing the Uttarakhand government, on whether it was necessary to keep these women in jail. However, the advocate could not provide a satisfactory answer and only mentioned that the women were visible in the CCTV footage.
The accused individuals in the case, represented by senior advocate Rama Krishna, include Gulzar, Rais Ahmed, Muhammad Shad, Muhammad Farid, Javed, Sharif Pacha, Muhammad Iftikhar, Muzammil, Zeeshan, Majid, Rehan, Ahmed Hasan, Shahrukh, Arbaaz, Sahil Ansari, Hakim Raza, Adil Khan, Muhammad Asif, Shahabuddin, Azeem, Muhammad Sameer, Suleman, Zeeshan Jebo, Nabi Hasan, Sarm Makrani, Shehzad Chhota, Shiraz Hussain, Muhammad Wasim, Arbaaz Khan, Salim, Muhammad Furkan, Muhammad Firoz, Muhammad Azeer, and Gulzar Ahmed.
Representing Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind were senior advocates Begum, Shahnaz, Soni, Shamsher, Salma, Reshma, Muhammad Rizwan, Danish Khan, Muhammad Shakir, Muhammad Imran, Haider, Javed Fesdo, and Aarish. Advocates Shahid Nadeem, C.K. Sharma, Arif Ali, Mujahid Ahmed, Satu Rai, Nitin Tiwari, Vijay Pandey, Wasif Khan, Manish Pandey, Asif Ali, Danish Ali, and Jameer Ahmed assisted in the case.
During the High Court hearings, the accused’s families were present, along with Maulana Mukeem Qasmi (President of Jamiat Ulama District, Nainital), Maulana Muhammad Qasim (Nazim-e-Aala, Jamiat Ulama District, Nainital), Maulana Muhammad Asim (City President, Jamiat Ulama Haldwani), Maulana Muhammad Salman (City Nazim, Jamiat Ulama Haldwani), Dr. Adnan, Abdul Hasib, and others.
