New Delhi, Sep 1 The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on a Delhi Police's plea challenging an order which permitted accused Devangana Kalita to inspect unrelied-upon documents in the alleged larger conspiracy case related to the 2020 Delhi riots.
A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and Vipul M Pancholi heard the submissions advanced by Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, who appeared for the Delhi Police, and senior advocate Kapil Sibal who represented Kalita.
On July 20, the top court had stayed the Delhi High Court's June 5 order that permitted Kalita, an accused in the case, to inspect the unrelied-upon documents.
The bench had then issued notice to Kalita on the plea filed by the Delhi Police challenging the high court order.
Raju had earlier argued that Kalita was not entitled to any document until charges were framed.
Kalita's lawyer had referred to a Supreme Court verdict and said the list of documents that were not relied on must also be furnished prior to framing of charge.
On June 5, the high court had lifted its earlier stay on framing of charges in the alleged larger conspiracy case related to the 2020 riots and allowed the trial court to pass a final order.
The high court had vacated the order while dismissing Kalita's plea seeking direction to the police to provide her certain videos and WhatsApp chats in relation to the case.
The court, however, had allowed a separate petition by Kalita and permitted her to inspect unrelied-upon documents in the UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) case.
Kalita had earlier moved the high court, claiming that Delhi Police had commissioned certain persons to record the February 2020 protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens, and the footage should be supplied to her before the trial court proceeds to hear the arguments as it would show that she was protesting peacefully.
Besides the video footage, she had also sought the "entire WhatsApp chat" of a group, alleging that "selective extracts" were being used against her.
In the judgment, the high court had stated that all the evidence being relied upon by the prosecution, along with the chargesheet, has already been provided to Kalita, along with the entire footage of the riots relevant to her.
The high court had also said that only the communication, information, chats of police officials' groups and WhatsApp groups that are neither relied upon nor relevant, have not been shared with the petitioner as they may contain sensitive information or privileged communication that cannot be disclosed.
Invoking the right to fair trial, the high court had permitted Kalita to inspect the unrelied-upon documents.
Various FIRs were registered in relation to the northeast Delhi riots, which left 53 people dead and over 700 injured in February 2020.
