Delhi riots: Delhi High Court rejects plea by Devangana Kalita to reconstruct case diaries

The Delhi High Court on Monday rejected Pinjra Tod activist Devangana Kalita's prayer to reconstruct the case diaries of a Delhi riots case in which she is accused [Devangana Kalita Vs. State NCT of Delhi].

Justice Ravinder Dudeja pronounced the judgment, in which the Court also confirmed an earlier interim order directing the police to preserve the case diaries.

“The petition is partly allowed. As far as the request for preservation is concerned, the interim order is made absolute. For reconstruction of police diary, request is rejected," the Court said.

Declining the request for reconstruction of entire case diaries, the Court stated that pages not forming part of this case cannot be reconstructed and Kalita is not entitled to receive a copy.

"The other pages of booklet nos. 9990 and 9989 which do not form part of case diary in the present case and which would have been used by the investigating officers for recording statements in various other FIRs being investigated by them at the relevant time cannot be reconstructed as the same is being beyond the scope of Section 172 and 91 Cr. P.C and also because petitioner is not entitled to have the copy of the same," the Court stated.

Further, the Court clarified that Kalita shall have a right to demonstrate antedating during trial.

Kalita had filed a plea urging the Court to direct that these case diaries be preserved and reconstructed on concerns that the Delhi police had tampered with the same.

She accused the police of ante-dating witness statements in the case diaries, which concern the criminal case lodged over anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests and a road blockade near the Jafrabad metro station in 2020.

A trial court had earlier rejected Kalita's plea to secure the case diaries, opining that the witness statements recorded under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) are not even a substantive part of evidence.

“While there may be merits in the submissions of the Ld. Counsel for the accused persons, but at this stage, this court cannot go into the truthfulness and veracity of the allegations," the trial court had said in the order passed on November 6, 2024.

This was challenged by Kalita before the Delhi High Court.

In December 2024, Justice Jasmeet Singh passed an interim order in the matter, directing the police to preserve the case diaries.

This interim order has now been confirmed today. However, Kalita's plea to reconstruct the case diaries has been rejected.

Advocates Adit S Pujari, Vanya Chhabra and Siddharth Kaushal appeared for Kalita.

Special Public Prosecutor Anuj Handa with Advocates Sanya Handa, Shubham Pandey and Akansha Chandok appeared for the State.