The Delhi High Court Tuesday dismissed a petition by 2020 riots accused Salim Malik alias Munna seeking that the charges framed against him in a case of rioting and arson at a car showroom be dropped. While a detailed order has not been made public, Justice Anish Dayal pronounced in open court that the petition is dismissed.
Malik was seeking that the 2023 Karkardooma Sessions Court order by Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala, where the court had framed charges against him in relation to a Dayalpur police station FIR, be set aside. While framing the charges for rioting and arson, the trial court concluded that there was no material to establish the ingredients of criminal conspiracy.
Malik is facing charges under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 147, 148 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 427 (mischief), 435, 436 (mischief by fire), and 450 (house trespass). He is accused of alleged rioting and arson at Fair Deal Cars Pvt Ltd at Main Wazirabad Road in Bhajanpura, Delhi, on February 24, 2020.
Malik is also an accused in the larger conspiracy case, along with others such as Umar Khalid, Abdul Khalid Saifi and others, all booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and provisions of IPC for allegedly being the “masterminds” of the 2020 Delhi riots, which left 53 people dead and over 700 injured. The riots erupted during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the city.
The prosecution has alleged that Malik attended a meeting of the conspirators on February 22, 2020, at Chand Bagh, and delivered “provocative” speeches from the stage at the Chand Bagh protest site against CAA-NRC legislation. It relied primarily on police witness statements to implicate him.
Malik, meanwhile, seeking quashing of the charges framed against him, pointed out that the allegation of attending the meeting is already part of the larger conspiracy case in the FIR by the Special Cell and that the prosecution had failed to cite the words used by him which could have provoked or incited any offence. He also submitted that no overt act has been attributed to him, and no evidence has been placed on record which establishes that he was part of the unlawful assembly. Malik submitted before the Delhi High Court the statements under Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) Section 161 of police witnesses that were present at the site of the protest “would serve to show that at its highest, the revisionist’s (Malik’s) role is only that of a speaker at a protest site which is separate and independent of the rioters.”
An employee at the car showroom Vikas Rai filed a complaint on February 27, 2020. Malik was arrested on October 30, 2020, more than eight months after the complaint was filed, and was granted bail on November 25, 2020. Malik was named as an accused only in the first supplementary chargesheet filed in the case in March 2021.
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