Court pulls up police over non-appearance of Special Public Prosecutor

New Delhi: A court hearing a case related to the north-east Delhi riots on Saturday pulled up the city police over the absence of a special public prosecutor (SPP).
The court has issued a notice to the DCP (Crime) in the matter and sought a report from the Special Commissioner. The court was hearing the bail plea of Sharjeel Imam in the sedition case related to the North-East Delhi riots.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Amitabh Rawat slammed Delhi Police over the absence of the SPP, saying he was trying to interfere in riot cases. Expressing his displeasure, ASJ Rawat issued a notice to the DCP, Crime, directing him to appear personally through the Special Commissioner on the next date of hearing.

“A notice be issued to the DCP (Crime) to appear in person on the next date,” ASJ Rawat ordered on December 2. The notice will be given through the Special Commissioner of Police (Crime), who will also file a report in this regard.” , 2023.

During the hearing, advocate Chanya Jaitley, appearing for SPP Amit Prasad, said that the former could not appear for the hearing due to a ‘personal difficulty’.
He further said that Link SPP Madhukar Pandey will be present but a pass-over may be given.

At this point, the court took the matter seriously, saying, “The court has observed that in the riots, the regular proxy lawyers for the Special Public Prosecutor have been demanding passes several times during the day, as they have already are engaged.” In other courts.”

The court said that it has been almost a regular practice for the last few days that even witnesses in riot cases have been acquitted without investigation due to the absence of a learned SPP. “The tendency to always ask for Passover/date while citing preoccupation with other matters in other courts regularly leads to derailing of cases in this court,” it ruled.
The matter was listed for clarification by the SPP on December 9.