The Karkardoona Sessions Court in Delhi granted bail to Shahrukh Pathan, a Muslim resident of northeast Delhi, after 42 months spending in the jail in a case related to northeast Delhi violence, on Saturday, October 7.
Pathan was granted bail in a case related to rioting, allegedly causing injuries to police personnel and gunshot injury sustained by one Rohit Shukla by an armed mob during the anti-Muslim pogrom in north east Delhi. (FIR 49/2020 registered at Jafrabad Police Station)
However, he won’t be released from custody, as he still faces charges in another case related to “rioting.”
Pathan hs been in judicial custody since 3 April 2020.
Pathan was also an accused in FIR 51/2020, relating to an incident wherein he was captured pointing a gun towards the city police and Hindutva mob who were attacking Muslims during the pogrom. The pictures of it had gone viral on the social media.
In Justice Amitabh Rawat’s single bench, Shahrukh Pathan’s bail plea was under consideration, with representation by Advocate Khalid Akhtar and Javed Ansari on behalf of Pathan. Public Prosecutor Advocate Anuj Handa represented the prosecution.
“The court is conscious of the fact that the conduct of the accused in this case before he was arrested and even during trial, during judicial custody has been atrocious. However, it remains a fact that he has been judicial custody since 03.04.2020,” Live Law quoted the court as saying.
Advocate Akhtar said to Maktoob, “This case had been pending in the high court for the past 19 months. The high court judge himself advised us to withdraw the case from there and seek relief from the trial court.”
He further explained, “Upon the high court’s recommendation, we shifted our approach to the trial court, where we ultimately secured bail. However, Shahrukh will continue to be detained in connection with FIR 51.”
