NEW DELHI: Delhi Police on Tuesday denied before Supreme Court that young students were being targeted for holding protests against CAA and NRC, saying Umar Khalid and other accused were behind "well-crafted, orchestrated, preplanned, choreographed riots" to divide the country on communal basis and achieve "the final regime change goal".
In an attempt to check grant of bail under stringent UAPA to the accused, solicitor general Tushar Mehta contested the defence's argument about the riots being spontaneous, saying they were a well-planned attack against the sovereignty of the country.
He also countered the argument of the accused regarding trial being delayed by Delhi Police, saying the police and the trial judge could not be blamed for it. The court was hearing the bail pleas of six accused in the case: Gulfisha Fatima, Sharjeel Imam, Meeran Haider, Umar Khalid, Shifa Ur Rehman and Mohd Saleem Khan.
"A narrative has been built inside the court and outside by them, but the facts are different. Your lordships have been told that they were protesting, and it resulted in communal riots. It is a myth that has to be busted...," Mehta said, while referring to various "provocative speeches with communal overtones" made by some of the accused.
The SG later let additional solicitor general S V Raju argue the case on law and facts. Raju placed various orders passed by the trial court to buttress the point that the accused had delayed the trial.
He said that the trial court had listed the matter in Sept 2023 for hearing of charges, but it started only a year later, in Sept 2024, because the accused were not ready to argue the matter. Subsequently, adjournments were sought on multiple dates, and only 11 out of 18 accused have argued on the charges so far, he said.
"A bare perusal of the order sheets clearly indicates that counsels for the accused have taken many adjournments during the course of arguments on charges. The order-sheets show that the counsels for the accused were not ready to argue the matter on charges, thereby protracting the proceedings," the ASG said. The inordinate delay in trial was not due to the inaction of the respondent agency or the trial court, the ASG added.
Earlier, Khalid had told the apex court that hearing on charges was initiated only in Sept last year as Delhi Police took four years to complete the probe, and the hearing was deferred several times because of non-availability of the presiding officer and public prosecutor.
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