Delhi riots case: HC dismisses illegal detention plea by student activist

The Delhi High Court Friday dismissed a plea on behalf of student activist Gulfisha Fatima claiming her detention in a Delhi riots case to be illegal saying it was ldquocompletely misplacedrdquo and ldquonot maintainablerdquoA bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh said the writ of habeas corpus would not lie in respect of a person who is in judicial custodyA habeas corpus petition is filed seeking direction to produce a person who is missing or illegally detainedldquoThe facts will show that the petitioner is in judicial custody and detention therefore cannot be termed as illegalrdquo the bench saidIt further said if Fatima is aggrieved by court orders passed in judicial proceedings before the trial court she has the legal remedy to challenge them before appropriate forum in proper proceedingsAlso Read Delhi riots Student activists Natasha Narwal Devangana Kalita released from Tihar jail on bailldquoThis petition is completely misplaced and not maintainable Same is accordingly dismissedrdquo the bench saidIn the habeas corpus petition Fatima through her sibling claimed that her custody in a Unlawful Activities Prevention Act UAPA case relating to alleged larger conspiracy that led to the northeast Delhi riots last year was illegal and she should thus be releasedDuring the hearing the bench asked advocate Jatin Bhatt representing Fatima whether he was willing to withdraw the plea as it was of the view that writ of habeas corpus was not maintainable in this caseTo this the counsel said his instructions were not to withdrawAdvocate Amit Mahajan representing Delhi Police said the habeas corpus petition filed by Fatima was not maintainable and it was nothing but a blatant abuse of the process of law and deserves to the dismissed with costHe also told the court that a habeas corpus petition by Fatimas brother on the same relief was dismissed by the high court last yearOn July 5 another bench of the high court refused to hear the matter after taking a strong exception to Fatimarsquos advocate Mehmood Pracha taking recourse to ldquohecklingrdquo and placing reliance on facts that were not on recordThe previous bench had recused and directed that the petition be placed before another benchAsserting that the petition is not maintainable the police reply stated that on September 16 2020 the chargesheet was filed before the trial court against Fatima and other accused and cognisance was taken the next day and the woman is in judicial custody pursuant to the trial courts order therefore her detention in judicial custody is legal and validFatima was arrested in the case on April 11 last year and is currently under judicial custody Besides this she is also accused in three other riots related casesCommunal clashes had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24 2020 after violence between the Citizenship Amendment Act CAA supporters and its protesters spiralled out of control leaving at least 53 people dead and over 700 injuredThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever