2020 Delhi riots: HC rejects Devangana's plea to reconstruct case diary

New Delhi, Sep 22 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Monday rejected a plea by student activist Devangana Kalita, seeking reconstruction of case diaries of a probe against her in a case related to the 2020 Delhi riots.

Justice Ravinder Dudeja, however, allowed her plea seeking preservation of the case diaries of the case.

"The petition is partly allowed. As far as the request for preservation is concerned, the interim order (dated December 2, 2024) is made absolute. So far as reconstruction of the police diary is concerned, the same is rejected", the court said while pronouncing the order.

The detailed verdict is awaited.

The high court on December 2 last year passed an interim order directing the Delhi Police to preserve the case dairies.

The high court passed the Monday's order on Kalita’s plea challenging a trial court's November 6, 2024, order, which refused to call the case diary before it. The police had then opposed the request on the grounds that it would delay the matter further.

The trial court had said that at this stage, it could not look into the truthfulness and veracity of her allegations that raised a "suspicion on the version of the investigating agency" and asked her to raise the issue at an appropriate stage.

Kalita's counsel had alleged that the police have added "antedated" statements to the case diary, which is impressible in law, and, therefore, urged the court to pass a direction to "reconstruct" and "preserve" the document.

The lawyer had claimed that at the stage of framing of charge in the case, which pertains to an FIR registered at Jafrabad police station, the police have introduced "antedated" statements in the case diary to allege that the accused was instrumental in causing "dhakka-mukki" with the police.

Communal clashes broke out in northeast Delhi on February 24, 2020, after violence between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled out of control, leaving at least 53 people dead and around 700 injured. PTI SKV AMJ AMJ