Northeast Delhi riots: Court pulls up investigating officer for negligence

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court dealing with riot cases on Saturday pulled up an investigating officer (IO) of Delhi Police for not filing replies to bail applications in the alleged murder case of head constable Ratan Lal during the February riots, stating he was dealing with an important matter in a "very callous and indolent" manner.
Additional sessions judge Vinod Yadav was hearing bail applications of Sahil, Adil, Mohd Furqan, Imran Ansari and others, who are accused in the alleged murder case."This is gross negligence on part of the IO. This is such an important matter for Crime Branch and the same is being dealt with by the investigating officer in a very callous and indolent manner. Today, seven matters were kept for two entire sessions," the court said.
The court noted that during the last hearing, the IO had undertaken to file replies in the case with an advance copy to the counsels of the bail applicants. "Neither the reply has been filed nor copy thereof has been supplied to the counsel of the applicants," the court said in its order.
As a result, the counsels of the applicants sought adjournment as they hadn't been supplied the copy of reply. "The IO should have been watchful that already enough time has elapsed in the matter. The bail application has been pending for a fairly long time," the court added.
While adjourning the bail matters to September 14, the court ordered that a copy of its order be sent to the DCP, Crime Branch. In a chargesheet filed against 17 people who were earlier arrested for Lal's alleged murder, police claimed the intention of protesters was to create a communal strife to malign the image of the country.