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IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

Date of decision: 15 June 2021

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CRL.A. 39/2021

ASIF IQBAL TANHA

..... Appellant

Through:

Mr. Siddharth Aggarwal, Advocate

with Ms. Sowjhanya Shankaran, Mr.

Siddharth Satija, Mr. Abhinav Sekhri

& Ms. Nitika Khaitan, Advocates

versus

STATE OF NCT OF DELHI

..... Respondent

Through:

Mr. Aman Lekhi, ASG alongwith Mr.

Amit Mahajan, Mr. Rajat Nair and

Mr. Amit Prasad, SPPs with Mr.

Ujjwal Sinha, Mr. Aniket Seth, Mr.

R i t w i z R i s h a b h , M s . R i y a

Krishnamurthy and Mr. Dhruv Pande,

Advocates.

Sh. P. S. Kushwaha, DCP with Sh.

Alok Kumar, Addl. DCP, Special

Cell, Insp. Lokesh Kumar Sharma and

Insp. Anil Kumar.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SIDDHARTH MRIDUL

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ANUP JAIRAM BHAMBHANI

J U D G M E N T

ANUP JAIRAM BHAMBHANI J.

Introduction

By way of the present appeal under section 21(4) of the National

Investigation Agency Act 2008 (‘NIA Act’, for short), the appellant Asif

CRL.A. 39/2021

Page of

Signed By:SUNITA RAWAT

Location:

Signing Date:15.06.2021

10:30:51

Signature Not Verified

Iqbal Tanha, a 25 year old student, pursuing his final year of the B.A.

(Hons.). (Persian) Programme at the Jamia Milia Islamia University, New

Delhi (‘Jamia University’, for short) impugns order dated 26.10.2020 made

by the learned Special Court (‘impugned order’, for short), whereby the

appellant’s second application seeking enlargement on bail has been

rejected.

2.

The appellant is presently in judicial custody, having been arrested on

19.05.2020 in case FIR No. 59/2020 dated 06.03.2020 registered under

sections 147 / 148 / 149 / 120B Indian Penal Code 1860 (‘IPC’, for

short) at P.S.: Crime Branch (‘subject FIR’, for short) in connection

with the incidents of violence and rioting that occurred in North-East

Delhi between 22.02.2020 and 26.02.2020. It may be noted that

offences under sections 109 / 114 / 124A / 153A / 186 / 201 / 212 /

295 / 302 / 307 / 341 /353 / 395 / 419 / 420 / 427 / 435 / 436 / 452 / 454

/ 468 / 471 / 34 IPC, sections 3 / 4 of the Prevention of Damage to

Public Property Act, 1984 (‘PDPP Act’, for short), sections 25 / 26 of

Arms Act, 1959 and sections 13 / 16 / 17 / 18 of the Unlawful

Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (‘UAPA’, for short) were

subsequently added to the subject FIR. At the time of his arrest in the

subject FIR on 19.05.2020, the appellant was already in judicial

custody in a different case arising from FIR No. 298/2019 dated

16.12.2019 registered under sections 143 / 147 / 148 / 149 / 435 / 427 /

323 / 186 / 353 / 332 / 308 / 341 / 120B / 34 IPC and sections 3 / 4 of

the PDPP Act at P.S.: Jamia Nagar, New Delhi. For completeness it

may be mentioned that FIR No. 298/2019 was registered in connection

with protests held in Delhi in 2019 against the Citizenship

CRL.A. 39/2021

Page of

Signed By:SUNITA RAWAT

Location:

Signing Date:15.06.2021

10:30:51

Signature Not Verified

(Amendment) Act 2019 (‘CAA’, for short) passed by the Parliament

and the exercise proposed to be undertaken by the Central Government

for creating a National Register of Citizens (‘NRC’, for short). It must

be mentioned that in case FIR No. 298/2019 the appellant has since

been admitted to regular bail by the learned Sessions Court, Saket, New

Delhi.

3.

Charge-sheet dated 16.09.2020 has been filed in the subject FIR inter

alia against the appellant (‘subject charge-sheet’, for short); and though

supplementary charge-sheets dated 22.11.2020 and 01.03.2021 have

also been filed in the subject FIR, the said other charge-sheets do not

relate to the appellant and are therefore not relevant for purposes of the

present proceedings. Vidé order dated 17.09.2020 the