‘This isn’t a special one…’: Why Delhi HC didn’t allow Red Fort blast accused to meet lawyer at NIA HQ? Court said it can’t…

Delhi Red Fort Blast: The Delhi High Court on Friday decline a prayer by Red Fort blast co-accused Jasir Bilal Wani to meet his lawyer in the headquarters of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), stating that the accused is not a special individual, and the court must follow a certain process.

What did the court say?

Responding to Wani’s counsel claiming that a trial court had orally rejected his plea, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma noted that the accused has failed to show any order passed by the trial court rejecting his prayer to meet his lawyer at the NIA HQ in the national capital.

“You think that I am going to make my own procedure? I would not. This is not a special one. There cannot be any oral rejection. Why are you before me if you do not have the order? First the order of rejection has to be passed then you can challenge it before me… There is a constitutional process which we all follow,” Justice Sharma said.

Who is  Jasir Bilal Wani?

A native of Qazigund in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, Jasir Bilal Wani was arrested by the NIA on November 17 for allegedly providing technical support for carrying out terror attacks by modifying drones and attempting to make rockets ahead of the Delhi Red Fort Blast.

According to the NIA, Wani is an active co-conspirator of the November 10 car blast that claimed 15 lives in the national capital, and worked closed with Delhi Red Fort suicide bomber, Dr Umar un Nabi, to plan the “terror carnage”.

A resident of Qazigund in Anantnag, Wani was arrested in Srinagar on November 17 for allegedly providing technical support for carrying out terror attacks by modifying drones and attempting to make rockets ahead of the bomb blast, the NIA had said in a statement.

Following his arrested, a trail court in Delhi remanded him to 10 days in NIA custody on November 18.

Why NIA denied Wani’s request?

During the hearing in the high court, Wani’s counsel claimed that a lawyer had gone to the NIA office to meet the accused but the agency denied the meeting and asked them to show a court direction in this regard.

He said when they approached the trial court with an application to this effect, the trial court refused to allow legal ‘mulaqat’ and orally refused to pass an order permitting the accused to meet an advocate of his choice.

However, the counsel for the NIA contended that the accused had not exhausted all the remedies before approaching the high court and that the petition be dismissed.

The high court, while refusing to allow the accused’s plea, said it cannot be accepted that the petitioner has availed all efficacious remedies.

Application was not taken on record or the trial court orally refused to pass an order cannot be a ground to entertain this petition, it said.

The high court, in the alternative, granted liberty to the accused’s counsel to approach the trial court concerned on Saturday for adjudication of his plea in accordance with law.

Delhi Red Fort blast and the ‘white collar’ terror module

Six people have been arrested by the NIA so far in connection with the ‘white collar’ terror module linked to the November 10 Delhi Red Fort blast that killed 15 people and left several others wounded.

Besides Wani, the other five arrested persons are key accused Amir Rashid Ali and doctors Muzammil Ganaie, Adeel Rather and Shaheena Saeed, besides preacher Maulvi Irfan Ahmed Wagay. They all are presently in NIA custody.

(With inputs from agencies)