The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Delhi High Court’s order to provide documents and information used in the chargesheet against Dewangna Kalta in the 2020 Delhi riots case. The decision was taken by the Supreme Court on a petition filed by the Delhi Police against the High Court’s June 5 order allowing Kalita to examine the undisclosed documents. Besides, through the same order, the High Court cleared the way for the filing of complaints by withdrawing the stay on the trial process in the lower courts from 2024.
A bench of Justices Arvind Kumar and Vipul M Pancholi said the stay on the impugned High Court order will remain in force till further orders. The bench fixed the date for further hearing of the case within two weeks and directed the respondents to file their reply. The bench expressed displeasure over the delay in the trial and said the accused should file his case in the lower court as the trial would not be completed in the next 10 years.
Advocate Adit S Pujari, appearing for Devangana Kalita, argued that the High Court granted the relief based on the earlier judgment of the Supreme Court. He referred to the May 2025 judgment in Sarala Gupta v Enforcement Directorate, which held that under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, an accused person is entitled to a list of documents not included in the charge sheet by the investigating agency. The lawyer added that the police had alleged that Kalita threw stones during the anti-CA protest, but the entire protest was video recorded. He claimed that the video footage would help prove that the protests were peaceful. He also sought the entire conversation of a WhatsApp group, alleging that the police used only selected portions.
In 2023, Kalita had approached the high court seeking the footage, claiming that the Delhi Police had hired some people to record the anti-CA protests held in February before arguments to frame the charge began in the lower court. On September 12, 2024, the High Court directed the lower court not to issue a final order to file chargesheets against the accused under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, including Kalita and Jawaharlal Nehru University alumni Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam. The High Court later lifted the stay and allowed the trial against Kalita to proceed.
In February 2020, 53 people were killed and over 700 injured in communal clashes in Northeast Delhi. The Delhi Police had accused Kalita and other activists of conspiring to create unrest in northeast Delhi’s Jaffrabad under the guise of a peaceful protest. However, in September 2020, the High Court granted him bail in the Jaffrabad violence case. Later in 2021, the High Court granted him bail in a major conspiracy case and the same year the Supreme Court upheld the decision. The Supreme Court will decide on further judicial proceedings in the case within two weeks after the defendants respond to the stay.