Courts to ensure law doesn't become a tool for targeted harassment: Delhi HC

New Delhi: Granting bail to five people who have been accused in the killing of head constable Ratan Lal during the northeast Delhi riot last year, the Delhi High Court observed the accused shall not be made to languish in jail considering the long process of trial.

Justice Subramoniam Prasad invoked the Constitutional duty of the court that is "bail is the rule and jail is the exception" while granting bail to Furkan, Mohd Arif, Shadab Ahmed, Suvaleen and Tabassum on a personal bond of Rs 35,000 each with one surety.

Justice Prasad said that the veracity of the crime the accused was alleged to have been committed can be tested during the trial, pointing out the roots the accused have in society. The court also directed the accused to not leave the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT) of Delhi without prior permission of the court.

The court is committed to ensuring no arbitrary deprivation of personal liberty is taken place by the excess of State power, by exercising its jurisdiction to uphold the tenets of personal liberty, subject to rightful regulation of the same by validly enacted legislation, the Justice said.

The court noted that the petitioner has been in Judicial Custody for a long.

The Supreme Court has time and again held that Courts need to be alive to both ends of the spectrum, i.e. the duty of the Courts to ensure proper enforcement of criminal law, and the duty of the Courts to ensure that the law does not become a tool for targeted harassment, he said.

The prosecution lawyers, earlier, had termed the death of head constable Rattan Lal brutal and unfortunate. Prosecutors further said that the accused used to share a stage with the other protestors and instigate the gathering against the government of India, which ultimately led to the death of more than 50 innocent persons in northeast Delhi.