Mohd Arshad Ahmad Vs the State NCT of Delhi & Ors. — Delhi HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

Mohd Arshad Ahmad Vs the State NCT of Delhi & Ors. — Delhi HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Petition disposed with directions: inquiry by a senior officer of the rank of ACP or above into the 01.05.2022 incident, with appropriate steps in accordance with law; petitioner permitted to call the Beat Officer/senior officers and to approach senior officers on any threat or apprehended breach of peace (4-5 personnel already deputed at the Dargah, though disputed); liberty reserved to file a contempt application on non-compliance of today's order or the order dated 17.08.2020. No further direction on CCTV preservation (audio not preserved) or punitive action against Respondents 3 and 4 beyond the inquiry.

Issue for consideration

Whether the State/police are providing adequate protection to the petitioner, an Imam, in discharge of his official and religious duties at Masjid Dargah Hazrat Khwaja Baqi Billah, in compliance with the direction contained in the order dated 17.08.2020 in W.P.(Crl.) 1101/2020. +2 more

Court's answer

Protection measures were recorded as in place: the Beat Officer's phone number has been provided to the petitioner, who is permitted to call the Beat Officer or other senior officers on apprehending breach of peace or threat to life and liberty; 4-5 Police Personnel have been deputed at the subject Dargah to ensure peace, an aspect disputed by the learned counsel for the petitioner.

Ratio / Principle

On the allegation that the petitioner and the alleged accused persons were called to the Police Station and the petitioner threatened in front of the SHO, the Court recorded that undisputedly no audio recording was preserved by the Police; the CCTV footage shows only the presence of the parties, and in the absence of audio it is difficult to ascertain anything regarding the petitioner's allegations.

Key takeaways

In these circumstances, a senior officer of the rank of ACP or above is directed to conduct an inquiry into the incident and take appropriate steps in accordance with law.ratio¶23
The petitioner is at liberty to approach the senior officers in case he feels any threat to his life and liberty or apprehends any breach of peace.ratio¶24
In case of non-compliance of either the order passed in the present petition or the order dated 17.08.2020, the petitioner is at liberty to file an appropriate application seeking contempt.

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Delhi High Court (Amit Mahajan, J.), W.P.(CRL) 1239/2022, order dated 19.08.2025 — A writ petition filed by an Imam of Masjid Dargah Hazrat Khwaja Baqi Billah (Eidgah Road, Paharganj) seeking enforcement of the Court's earlier order dated 17.08.2020 in W.P.(Crl.) 1101/2020 directing the State to ensure no hindrance or obstruction to him in performing his official and religious duties, was disposed of. Recording that the Beat Officer's phone number had been provided to the petitioner and that 4-5 Police Personnel were deputed at the Dargah (an aspect disputed by the petitioner's counsel), the Court noted that although CCTV footage showed the parties' presence at P.S. Nabi Karim during the incident of 01.05.2022, no audio recording had been preserved by the Police, making it difficult to ascertain anything regarding the alleged threats made in front of the SHO. The Court directed that a senior officer of the rank of ACP or above conduct an inquiry and take appropriate steps in accordance with law, permitted the petitioner to approach senior officers on any threat or apprehended breach of peace, and reserved liberty to file a contempt application upon non-compliance of the instant order or the 17.08.2020 order. Reference was made (in the petitioner's prayer, invoking Article 21 of the Constitution) to the Supreme Court's judgment dated 02.12.2020 in Paramvir Singh Saini vs Baljit Singh & Others, SLP (Crl) No. 3543/2020, regarding preservation of CCTV footage.

$~48

* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

W.P.(CRL) 1239/2022 MOHD ARSHAD AHMAD .....Petitioner Through: Mr. M. Sufian Siddiqui, Mr. Md. Niyazuddin & Mr. Mazhak Ahmad, Advs.

versus

THE STATE NCT OF DELHI & ORS. .....Respondents Through: Mr. Rahul Tyagi, ASC (Crl.) for the State along with Mr. Sangeet Sibou, Mr. Priyansh Raj Singh Senger & Mr. Aniket Kumar Singh, Advs. SI Harsh Kumar, PS Nabi Karim. Mr. Tushar Sahnee, Adv. for GNCTD along with Ms. Shooni Das, Adv. Mr. M. M. Singh & Ms. Natasha Goel, Adv. for R3.

CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AMIT MAHAJAN O R D E R

% 19.08.2025

1. The present petition is filed by the petitioner, inter-alia, seeking the following prayers :-

“a. Direct the SHO, P.S. Nabi Karim/respondent no.2 herein to forthwith ensure strict compliance of the final order and judgment dated: 17.08.2020 passed by this Hon’ble Court in W.P. (Crl.) 1101 of 2020 in case titled “Mohd Arshad Ahmad vs The State NCT of Delhi & Ors.” by providing adequate Police protection to the petitioner in the discharge of his official and religious duties as an Imam of Masjid Dargah Hazrat Khwaja Baqi Billah (R.A.) situated at Eidgah Road, Paharganj, Delhi; and

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W.P.(CRL) 1239/2022

This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 25/08/2025 at 12:17:26

b. Direct the SHO, P.S. Nabi Karim/respondent no.2 herein to secure/preserve forthwith the CCTV footage both Audio and Video of cameras installed inside the Police Station, Nabi Karim, District-Central (especially inside the room of the SHO, P.S. Nabi Karim) and place on record before this Hon’ble Court pertaining to the incident dated: 01.05.2022 between 02.00 P.M to 07.00 P.M, in terms of the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s judgment dated: 02.12.2020 passed in the case of “Paramvir Singh Saini vs Baljit Singh & Others” Special Leave Petition (Criminal) No.3543/2020. And

c. Direct Respondent no.1 to conduct an in-depth enquiry in a fair and impartial manner considering the principles of natural justice under the direct supervision of the DCP Vigilance or by a Police Officer of a higher rank on the reprehensible incident dated: 01.05.2022 as it occurred inside the room of the SHO, P.S. Nabi Karim, District-Central causing infraction of the petitioner’s fundamental rights as Guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, and for the willful disobedience of this Hon’ble Court’s order dated: 17.08.2020 passed in W.P.(Crl.) 1101 of 2020 titled „Mohd Arshad Ahmad vs The State NCT of Delhi & Ors.‟ . and

d. Direct the Respondent no.1 to take stringent legal action against Mohd. Nasir/Respondent no.3 herein and his associate Parvez Noor @ Nanhe/Respondent no.4 herein for brazenly threatening, intimidating and subjecting the petitioner to inhuman and degrading treatment that too in the presence of the SHO P.S. Nabi Karim/ respondent no. 2 herein;”

It is pointed out that phone number of the Beat Officer has been provided to the petitioner and the petitioner is permitted to call the Beat Officer or any other senior officer in case he apprehends any breach of peace or threat to his life and liberty. 3. It is also pointed that 4 - 5 Police Personnel have also been deputed on the subject Dargah in order to ensure peace. 4. The said aspect is, though, disputed by the learned counsel for the petitioner.

In regard to the allegation that the petitioner and the alleged accused persons were called at the Police Station and petitioner was allegedly threatened by the accused persons in

W.P.(CRL) 1239/2022

Page 2 of 3

This is a digitally signed order.

The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 25/08/2025 at 12:17:26

front of the SHO, undisputedly, no audio recording has been preserved by the Police. It is pointed out that CCTV footages though show the presence of the parties at the Police Station, however, in the absence of any audio, it is difficult to ascertain anything in regard to the allegations made by the petitioner.

In such circumstances, the senior officer of the rank of ACP or above is directed to conduct an inquiry and take appropriate steps in accordance with law.

Petitioner is also at liberty to approach the senior officers in case he feels any threat to his life and liberty or in case he apprehends any breach of peace.

The present order has been passed, since this Court by order dated 17.08.2020 had disposed of the writ petition filed by the petitioner on an earlier occasion specifically directing the State to ensure that no hinderance or obstruction is caused to petitioner in performing his official and religious duties as Imam of the subject Masjid .

The petitioner, in case of non-compliance of either the order passed today or the order dated 17.08.2020, is at liberty to file an appropriate application seeking contempt.

The present petition is disposed of in the aforesaid terms.

AMIT MAHAJAN, J

AUGUST 19, 2025 “SK”

Page 3 of 3

W.P.(CRL) 1239/2022

This is a digitally signed order.

The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 25/08/2025 at 12:17:26