Conclude trial against Batla accused: Court

THE BATLA HOUSE ENCOUNTER TOOK PLACE ON SEPT 19, 2008, AGAINST ALLEGED INDIAN MUJAHIDEEN TERRORISTS IN BATLA HOUSE IN JAMIA NAGAR

NEWDELHI: The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed Delhi police to conclude the trial against Ariz Khan, co-accused in the 2008 Batla House encounter who was arrested recently, within six months.

A bench of Justice S Muralidhar and Justice I S Mehta, while directing that the charges on Ariz Khan alias Junaid be framed within three weeks, also deferred the appeal of Shahzad Ahmed, who was convicted of murdering Delhi Police Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma and assaulting other officers during the encounter.

“The order on charge in the case of the co-accused Ariz Khan shall be passed by the trial court not later than three weeks from today. Within a period of six months from the date of framing of charge, the trial court shall conclude the recording of evidence and deliver the judgment against the co-accused Junaid,” the bench said.

The court’s direction comes while hearing an application filed by Delhi police through Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) Radhika Kolloru, seeking suspension of the appeal filed by Ahmed who challenged his conviction by the trial court in 2013.

The plea said since the evidence in the appeal and the trial of Junaid are overlapping, the finding of the bench is bound to affect the decision of the lower court in the pending trial against this co-accused.

The bench noted this submission and said both the cases are identical and any views expressed on the merits with respect to the evidence led against Ahmed “is bound to impact the impending trial against Ariz and the consequential decision of the trial court”.

“It will impact even the conduct of the trial in terms of examination and cross examinations of the witnesses. Either party may be prejudiced,” the bench said.

The court allowed the plea for sending the trial court records pertaining to the encounter to the chief metropolitan magistrate (CMM), south east district, Saket courts, where a supplementary chargesheet has been filed against the co-accused after his arrest on February 23 this year.

The Batla House encounter, officially known as Operation Batla House, took place on September 19, 2008, against alleged Indian Mujahideen terrorists in Batla House locality in Jamia Nagar, south Delhi.

Two suspected terrorists, Atif Amin and Mohamed Sajid, were killed while two other suspects, Mohd Saif and Zeeshan, were arrested.

The encounter claimed the life of encounter specialist Mohan Chand Sharma and co-accused Ariz Khan managed to escape.