On Wednesday, a Sessions Court in Delhi put an interim stay till Oct 8, on a Magistrate Court order directing the authorities to unlock the residential portion of premises of Markaz Tablighi Jamaat in Hazrat Nizamuddin 5 days after the receipt of order.

"It is stated that a period of five days given by the Metropolitan Magistrate to the police for inspection of the aforesaid premises is expiring today. Accordingly, the operation of the impugned order dated September 11 is stayed till the next date of hearing," said Additional Sessions Judge Sandeep Yadav

Atul Kumar Srivastav, Additional Public Prosecutor pressed the application for stay of the impugned order submitting that the whole purpose of filing the revision petition will be frustrated & the petition will become infructuous if the impugned order is not stayed.

Delhi Police has moved the Sessions Court challenging a Magistrate Court order dated Sept 11, where it was directed to the authorities to hand over the keys of the residential portion of the Markaz Tablighi Jamaat in Nizamuddin area to the family of its chief Maulana Saad after five days from the receipt of this order, to enable the probe agencies to inspect the premises before the handover.

The magistrate order came on a petition filed by the applicant, the mother of Maulana Saad, & her family members. The court had also directed them to give an undertaking on an affidavit that they shall not obstruct the investigation in any manner & the residential portion of the property will only be used for residing by its residents only & that they will not enter any part other of the Markaz and its premises for any other purpose.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Gurmohina Kaur of Saket Courts complex, while granting relief to the application on Friday, said that every person, who is a citizen of India is entitled to the right to life & liberty enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution of India & the right to access to the residential property would fall within one of these sacrosanct rights.

During the arguments, the Special Public Prosecutor argued that the property was not sealed under any provision of the law, but the premises sought to be unlocked was locked for the preservation of the crime scene. The prosecutor submitted that the keys are with the Delhi Police & investigation is still pending in the present case.

The counsel for Khalida, mother of Maulana Saad, had argued that all the concerned officials have admitted the fact that the keys of residential premises are with Delhi Police & the applicant & her family have been denied access to her residential premises for more than six months now. The counsel argued that no person can be restricted/restrained for using residential property in any provision of law.

According to Khalida's application, after the registration of an FIR on March 31, 2020, the entire Markaz premises was vacated & locked for the purpose of sanitization & disinfection by the authorities & keys of the premises were handed over to the police.

The application, filed by Khalida, said that "It is further averred in the application that the residential part of the premises is a four-storey building & the said building is divided by wall into two sections, wherein, in one section the applicant & her family resides & the entrance for both the sections of the building are separate & not interconnected".

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