Police’s claim of ‘change in power’ not in charge sheet: Gulfisha Fatima tells Supreme Court

Asserting that she cannot be kept in “endless detention”, activist Gulfisha Fatima, seeking bail in the February 2020 riots case, told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that Delhi Police’s claim of a coordinated “regime change operation” has no mention in her charge sheet.

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Fatima, told a bench of Justices Arvind Kumar and NV Anjaria that the activist has spent less than six years in jail and termed the delay in the trial as “surprising and unprecedented”.

“Where in your charge sheet have you mentioned regime change as the origin?” He asked and said that the prosecution’s claim of a pan-India conspiracy “to separate Assam from India” is equally baseless.

“What is Aadhaar?” Singh said.

Strongly opposing the bail plea of ​​activists Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and others in the February 2020 riots in the city, Delhi Police said it was not a spontaneous incident but a “planned, pre-planned and well-designed” attack on the sovereignty of the nation.

Read also, Equality cannot be the sole basis for granting bail to an accused in a criminal case: Supreme Court

Singhvi said charges against Fatima have not been framed yet and she cannot be kept in “endless detention”, especially when 939 witnesses have been cited.

Seeking parity with co-accused Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and Asif Iqbal Tanha, who were granted bail by the High Court in June 2021, Singhvi argued that Fatima is the only woman who is still in jail.

“He got bail in 2021. My case is very small,” Singhvi said.

Singhvi argued that the allegation that Fatima had attended a “secret meeting” was similar to the allegations made against Narwal and Kalita.

Singhvi asked, “There is no evidence of chilli powder, acid or anything else. There was no recovery. They uploaded it on social media. How can it be a secret meeting?”

Singhvi argued that Delhi Police has failed to prove its allegations against the accused.

The hearing will continue at 12.30 pm.

Khalid, Imam, Fatima, Meeran Haider and Rehman were booked under provisions of UAPA, the stringent anti-terrorism law and the erstwhile IPC for allegedly “masterminding” the 2020 riots, which left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.

The violence broke out during widespread protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).