A court here has granted four hours’ custody parole to Shahrukh Pathan, the man who had allegedly pointed a gun at a policeman during the 2020 north-east Delhi riots, to meet his 65-year-old ailing father.
Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat noted that he was taking a humanitarian approach to grant the relief, further ordering that Pathan be brought to his parents’ residence to meet them for four hours on May 23. The judge added that the parole was only to meet his ailing parents and no other person.
Father’s surgery
Significantly, moving the application, it was argued on behalf of Pathan that he had been granted custody parole for a day in March this year when his father was scheduled to undergo a coronary angiography surgery at GB Pant Hospital. But while Pathan was brought to the hospital, he could not meet his father as he was in surgery at the moment.
Even as Mr. Rawat noted that the allegations against Pathan are serious in nature and that courts have denied him bail multiple times, he said that the fact that his father had undergone angiography had been verified. He added, “Parents are aged and have ailments… In these circumstances, the court is inclined to take humanitarian approach and thus, the application is allowed.”
During the 2020 riots, footage from Jafrabad area had surfaced, showing him brandishing a pistol at the police. The police registered a case against him following this. It also added to the case the complaint of one Rohit Shukla, who claimed to be shot by Pathan, who was allegedly part of the riotous mob.
A Delhi court had last year framed charges against Pathan under Sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with deadly weapon), 149 (offence committed by unlawful assembly), 186 (obstructing public servant from performing duty), 188 (disobedience of order of public servant), 153A (promoting enmity on grounds of religion, etc.), 283 (danger or obstruction in public way), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), and 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC.
Panel report
Significantly, in its fact-finding report released in July 2020, the Delhi Minorities Commission had outlined the circumstances under which he had pointed the pistol at the police.
The report said, “According to a family, while stone throwing by the mob was going on against anti-CAA protesters in Jafrabad, a mob attacked Shahrukh Pathan’s house and his family. The police did not help them despite being present nearby. At that stage Shahrukh took a pistol, came out on the road and fired.”
It added that family and neighbours of Pathan had told them that he had acted in a fit of rage because his family had been attacked.
