High Court rejects PIL seeking oversight of Red Fort terror trial

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused a petition seeking a court-monitored committee to oversee all stages of the Red Fort blast trial. The bench said the trial has not commenced, and the plea was based only on apprehensions

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a petition seeking a court-monitored committee to supervise all stages of trial in the Red Fort blast case.

The high court said the trial in the case has not started yet, and the issue raised in the petition was only on apprehension, and it cannot be assumed that there will be a delay in the trial.

---

Petitioner Dr Pankaj Pushkar sought a day-to-day trial in the case and a direction to the probe agency to file monthly status reports before the court-appointed oversight committee.

“It is a good piece of an essay and not a written petition. You have to differentiate between a writ petition and a research paper. We are not sitting here to entertain your ideas and suggestions.

“We are sitting here to entertain a petition where you can show infringement of any of your fundamental rights or constitutional provisions or any other legally enforceable rights,” a bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said.

After some arguments, the petitioner’s counsel urged the court to allow him to withdraw his petition. The bench added, “At least don’t waste the court’s time. We understand a situation where it has been pending for years, but the trial has not started yet.” The petitioner’s counsel said that at least the trial should be concluded according to the legislative mandate, but it is not happening.

He said he needed “some assurance” from the court that the trial would not be delayed. He referred to the delay in various terror cases. To this, the court said the trial will conclude only when it commences, and here that stage has not yet come.

During the hearing, the additional solicitor general, representing the Centre, said the plea is misconceived, and the petitioner is not even aware that the Red Fort blast case is no longer with the Delhi Police but has been transferred to the National Investigation Agency.

The blast took place in a car near the Red Fort on November 10, which claimed 15 lives. The plea said an attack on the Red Fort is not an ordinary crime – it is an assault on the soul of India, on the republic’s living symbol of sovereignty, where the nation reaffirms its constitutional identity every Independence Day.

The targeted nature of this terror act is designed to destabilise national morale, induce widespread fear, and weaken the authority of the republic, it said. The petition said that the victims’ families remain in complete darkness as they do not know why their loved ones were killed or which “forces” orchestrated the attack.

“Despite official assurances, only judicial supervision can guarantee that evidence is preserved, agencies cooperate, witnesses are protected, and the investigation aims not only at identifying the perpetrators but also at uncovering the purpose and intent behind the attack – information the victims are constitutionally entitled to,” the plea said.