It Has Shaken This Court's Conscience: Delhi HC Rejects Bail Plea Of Gun Wielding Riot Accused Shahrukh

Delhi High Court on Wednesday (15 April) rejected the bail application of Shahrukh Pathan, an accused in the riots that took place in the national capital last year.

Pathan has been accused of branidshing a pistol towards an unarmed head constable of Delhi police and firing 3-4 rounds of shots towards people during the protests which took place in Northeast Delhi in February 2020.

A single judge bench of Justice Suresh Kait of the Delhi High Court relied on the video footages, produced by the police as evidence, to reject the bail application of Shahrukh.

In a video of the incident, Pathan could be seen pointing a gun at an unarmed Delhi Police personnel during the riots of February 2020.

"The video clipping and pictures played before this Court have shaken the conscience of this court as to how petitioner could take law and order in his hands,” the HC said in its order, reports Live Law.

The court further said that regardless of his intention to kill the police official or any other person with his open-air pistol shots, it was "hard to believe that he had no knowledge that his act may harm anyone present at the spot.”

"Keeping in mind the gravity of offence committed by the petitioner as also the facts of the present case, I am not inclined to grant bail to the petitioner," Justice Kait said in the order.