A Delhi Court hearing a case related to the Northeast Delhi riots has been informed that the Police "inadvertently" put a document which contained the details of some of the protected witnesses in the copies of the charge sheet supplied to the accused booked under the stringent UAPA.

Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad, counsel for the Police, approached the Court informing it about the lapse after it came to the knowledge of the investigating agency that at least 3 protected witnesses have been reached out by various persons with a vested interest, in relation to the case.

Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat said there was a mistake on the part of the Investigating Officer & directed the Special Cell of the Delhi Police, which is investigating the case, to ensure comprehensive safety & security to all the protected witnesses.

The Court ordered the accused & their lawyer to return the documents. It also ordered the accused or any other person or authority not to divulge, publish, disclose, disseminate or circulate the identity of the protected witnesses & not to approach them directly or indirectly.

It asked the Police to file fresh copies of the charge sheet redacting the details of the protected witnesses & supply it to the fifteen persons charge-sheeted in the case & their lawyer.

The Court's directions came after Prasad moved an urgent application saying the identity of some of the protected witnesses in the case was disclosed inadvertently by way of attaching untruncated judicial & investigation papers in the charge sheet.

"Under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, there is specific provision for protecting the identity of the witnesses for their safety & accordingly orders have been passed regarding the protection of the protected witnesses.

Thus, this particular provision was meant to protect the identity & ensure their safety for the purpose of fair trial, the judge noted

"The whole idea is to provide cover to the identity of the witnesses so that they can depose fairly & independently in the court.

"Accordingly, once the order was passed by the court, the identity should not have been disclosed," the court stated in its order passed on Oct 9.

The application moved by Prasad stated the act was neither intentional nor deliberate.

The soft copy of the charge sheet, identical to the original charge sheet, was supplied to the accused persons or their counsel, it said.

The court said, "The pen drive supplied to the counsels for accused persons contain the alleged disclosure of the name of the protected witnesses & hence, it would be in the fitness of things to ask them, who are Officers of the Court, to return them in the court.

"The return of the pen drive shall also pertain to the one supplied to the court itself. The record where the disclosure of protected witnesses has happened in the judicial file along with the pen drive in the court shall be kept in a sealed cover in the court in the judicial file & the redacted version of the said record shall be filed in the court. The Investigating Officer shall coordinate with the Ahlmad of the court for doing the needful," it said.

The accused include Pinjra Tod members & JNU students Devangana Kalita & Natasha Narwal, Jamia Millia Islamia student Asif Iqbal Tanha, Gulfisha Khatoon, former Congress Councillor Ishrat Jahan, Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, Meeran Haider, Shafa-Ur-Rehman, suspended AAP Councillor Tahir Hussain, activist Khalid Saifi, Shadab Ahmed, Tasleem Ahmed, Salim Malik, Mohd Salim Khan & Athar Khan.

They have been charge-sheeted for allegedly being part of a larger conspiracy in the riots.

JNU student Sharjeel Imam & former JNU student leader Umar Khalid have also been arrested under the anti-terror law in the case but not charge-sheeted yet.

The application moved by Prasad stated that the investigating agency was conscious regarding the safety & security of the public witnesses including protected public witnesses.

"The life, liberty, safety & security of the protected public witnesses are of paramount importance. The state is the protector & guardian of the life & liberty of the citizens of this country. During the investigation of this case, the identity of some of the witnesses was kept confidential as contemplated under the UA(P) Act.

The application said that "It is also necessary that the relevant documents be extracted from the judicial file & replaced with truncated version & the original is sealed & kept on record. The present application is being filed bonafide & in the interest of justice, equity & fair play".

Communal violence had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24 after clashes between citizenship law supporters & protesters spiralled out of control leaving at least 53 people dead & around 200 injured. 

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