A Delhi Court on Tuesday took a serious view of non-appearance on behalf of Umar Khalid for hearing on an application seeking a supply of documents in the matter related to the larger Conspiracy of Delhi riots of 2020. The court has issued notice to his counsel. Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat at Karkardooma Court, on Tuesday, issued notice to the counsel for Umar Khalid and listed the matter for argument tomorrow.
The court observed, “It is seen that nobody had appeared for accused Umar Khalid even on the last date of hearing. In fact, when the interim bail application of the accused was listed yesterday, the counsel for the accused was present and was also apprised about the pending application for today.” The court said, “The conduct of the accused is not proper. While he wants the Court to exercise its discretion in his favour in an interim bail application, he doesn’t want to argue his application under Section 207 Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) despite being specifically aware of the same.
The application of Umar Khalid was listed today before the court. No one appeared for the accused despite repeated calls. Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad submitted that nobody is appearing for accused Umar Khalid in this application for expediting the trial but the counsel diligently appears in the bail application.
The SPP submitted that there is an abuse of discretion of the court. In these circumstances, let court notice be issued to the counsel for accused Umar Khalid for arguments on December 14, 2022, the court ordered on Tuesday.
The applications under Section 207 CrPC were filed on behalf of the accused persons namely Mohd Saleem Khan, Meeran Ilaider, Shadab Ahmad, Umar Khalid, Athar Khan and Khalid Saifi were taken up for argument today. The court noted that none appeared for the accused persons namely Umar Khalid and Shadab Ahmad.
It was submitted by the Special Public Prosecutor that substantial compliance has been met and there is a difference of opinion regarding 2-3 points. He said that he will file a reply to the same, Special Public Prosecutor submitted.
The court said, “Since none is turning up for accused Shadab Ahmad despite repeated calls, hence, his application under Section 207 CrPC was listed for consideration on December 14, 2022.” The court has listed the three miscellaneous applications moved on behalf of accused Athar Khan for consideration on December 20, 2022, when the main case is listed for hearing.
