In a plea filed by activist Devangana Kalita e, one of the defendants in the broader conspiracy case involving the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots, the Delhi High Court on Thursday sent notice to the state asking for the case diary to be preserved and rebuilt in connection with a police investigation. The investigation that follows a formal complaint filed at the Jafrabad Police Station in February 2020 is the subject of the case diary.
In her appeal before the High Court, Kalita is requesting that a judicial magistrate first-degree (JMFC) order of Shahdara, Gujarat, Karkardooma, court in Delhi from November 6 be overturned. The court declined to investigate Kalita’s claims of tampering and antedating statements under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
Kalita initially brought up the claims of record tampering before the magistrate court through her attorney Adit Pujari, and she asked the court to obtain the entire booklet including the pertinent case diaries. The prosecution protested, claiming that requesting the booklets would cause the case to drag on. Although Kalita’s accusations “raise suspicion on the version of the investigation agency” and “may have merits,” the JMFC court concluded that it “cannot go into the factual accuracy and veracity of the allegations.”
The magistrate court also noted that the matter at hand concerns a procedural matter and that comments made under CrPC Section 161 are “not even substantive pieces of evidence,” concluding that there was “no requirement.”
Advocate Pujari argued before Justice Jasmeet Singh on Thursday that the magistrate’s ruling is a “very very sorry state of affairs,” contesting it in the Delhi High Court. Kalita is requesting that the case diary be preserved and rebuilt. “The police have predated case diaries,” Pujari continued.
Justice Singh gave notice to the prosecution and instructed it to submit its progress report within a week, but he declined to provide any ex-parte relief by ordering the case diary to be promptly restored and preserved. The court held off on deciding until November 25.