Delhi Court stays Magistrate Court order regarding unlocking of residential portion of Markaz
Sep 16, 2020
New Delhi [India], September 16 : A sessions court in Delhi on Wednesday put an interim stay till October 8, on a magistrate court order directing the authorities to unlock the residential portion of premises of Markaz Tablighi Jamaat in Hazrat Nizamuddin five days after the receipt of order.
Additional Sessions Judge Sandeep Yadav said: "It is stated that a period of five days given by the Metropolitan Magistrate to the police for inspection of the aforesaid premises is expiring today. Accordingly, the operation of the impugned order dated September 11 is stayed till the next date of hearing."
Atul Kumar Srivastav, Additional Public Prosecutor pressed the application for stay of the impugned order submitting that the whole purpose of filing the revision petition will be frustrated and the petition will become infructuous if the impugned order is not stayed.
Delhi Police has moved the sessions court challenging a magistrate court order dated September 11, where it was directed to the authorities to hand over the keys of the residential portion of the Markaz Tablighi Jamaat in Nizamuddin area to the family of its chief Maulana Saad after five days from the receipt of this order, to enable the probe agencies to inspect the premises before the handover.
The magistrate order came on a petition filed by the applicant, the mother of Maulana Saad, and her family members. The court had also directed them to give an undertaking on an affidavit that they shall not obstruct the investigation in any manner and the residential portion of the property will only be used for residing by its residents only and that they will not enter any part other of the Markaz and its premises for any other purpose.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Gurmohina Kaur of Saket Courts complex, while granting relief to the application on Friday, said that every person, who is a citizen of India is entitled to the right to life and liberty enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution of India and the right to access to the residential property would fall within one of these sacrosanct rights.
During the arguments, the Special Public Prosecutor argued that the property was not sealed under any provision of the law, but the premises sought to be unlocked was locked for the preservation of the crime scene. The prosecutor submitted that the keys are with the Delhi Police and investigation is still pending in the present case.
The counsel for Khalida, mother of Maulana Saad, had argued that all the concerned officials have admitted the fact that the keys of residential premises are with Delhi Police and the applicant and her family have been denied access to her residential premises for more than six months now. The counsel argued that no person can be restricted/restrained for using residential property in any provision of law.
According to Khalida's application, after the registration of an FIR on March 31, 2020, the entire Markaz premises was vacated and locked for the purpose of sanitization and disinfection by the authorities and keys of the premises were handed over to the police.
"It is further averred in the application that the residential part of the premises is a four-storey building and the said building is divided by wall into two sections, wherein, in one section the applicant and her family resides and the entrance for both the sections of the building are separate and not interconnected," the application, filed by Khalida, said.
