By Our Staff Reporter
Nainital, 10 Jan: The bail plea of Abdul Malik, the main accused in the Banbhulpura violence in Haldwani, was today rejected by a division bench of the Uttarakhand High Court, comprising Chief Justice G Narender and senior Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari. The court further directed Malik to apply for bail in the lower court.
In addition, the court also instructed the lower court to deliver its decision after reviewing the charge sheet and previous orders. It may be recalled that the division bench had reserved its decision on 2 January and has delivered its verdict today.
Violence erupted in the Banbhulpura area of Haldwani on 8 February last year, when the police and administration team went to remove encroachments. The team was attacked with stones, arson, and gunfire by the encroachers, resulting in several deaths and over 100 injuries. The accused surrounded the police station and opened fire.
After the investigation, the police arrested over 100 individuals, including Abdul Malik. However, in his bail application, Malik had claimed that he was in Delhi on the day of the incident and had been falsely implicated by the police and the administration. On his behalf, senior Supreme Court lawyer and a senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid had argued that since his client he had not committed any crime, he should be granted bail. Khurshid also mentioned that Malik had already been granted bail from a single bench in the encroachment case. It may be reminded here that Abdul Malik is also accused of grabbling large area of railway and government land in Banbhulpura in Haldwani and then selling it in the form of smaller plots illegally to others on stamp paper denominations of Rs 10 and 100.
