Turkman Gate violence: Delhi court reserves order on bail pleas of 5 accused

A city court on Tuesday reserved its order on bail pleas of five persons, accused of being involved in the violence near Faiz-e-Elahi mosque near Turkman Gate in Central Delhi during a demolition drive by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) last week. The order is likely to be pronounced on Wednesday.

Nadeem Khan, the counsel of one of the accused, Adnan, argued that the five accused had been arrested “merely to set a deterrent example”, also submitting that the police officers knew the accused even before the incident.

“Due to the breach of public order, the act of one person doesn’t mean the liability needs to be fastened onto everyone,” he said, adding that his client was not visible in the CCTV footage.

The defence counsel also claimed that the arrests were made even before the FIR was registered.

Opposing the bail pleas of the accused, the Delhi Police, represented by Additional Public Prosecutors Atul Kumar Shrivastava and Dr Tushar Kadyan, argued that the accused were aware of the Delhi High Court order directing the MCD to act against the encroachments in the area.

“It was not a simple case of assault but an attack on the system,” the prosecution submitted, adding that the accused persons had pelted stones at police personnel and endangered their lives. They also said that the accused had “instigating messages and videos” on their phones, allegedly spreading rumours about the demolition.

The civic body started to raze encroachments next to the mosque last week, hours after the Delhi High Court declined a plea for an interim stay on such action.

Violence erupted soon as 30-35 people gathered in the area, raised slogans and threw stones. Five policemen were injured in the incident. A total of 18 arrests have been made in the case so far.

The bulldozers targeted structures, including a baaraat ghar and a dispensary lying outside a 0.195-acre patch of land on which the mosque and a dargah stand. Both the mosque and the dargah remained untouched during the demolitions.