Delhi court rejects Al Falah University chairman’s plea

A Delhi court has rejected two applications moved by Al Falah University chairman Jawad Ahmad Siddiqui for filing certain documents, ruling that at the stage of cognisance, it is only required to take into consideration the material placed by the complainant and not the accused.

Siddiqui claimed the documents would expose contradictions in the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) case. His other application sought a direction to the agency to provide a list of documents it was not relying upon in the prosecution complaint.

In an order dated August 4, Additional Sessions Judge Sheetal Chaudhary Pradhan said, “It is a settled law that at the stage of cognizance the court is only required to take into consideration the material placed by the complainant (in this case the prosecution complaint), for limited purpose of finding out whether a prima facie case for issue of process is made out and is limited to the aforesaid extend.”

The court said at the pre-cognisance stage, it is required to examine only the material placed by the complainant to determine whether a prima facie case is made out for proceeding against the accused.

“At the stage of cognisance, the court is only required to take into consideration the material placed by the complainant,” the judge observed while rejecting the plea. The defence had argued that the mandatory hearing before cognisance under the BNSS should allow an accused to place independent material before the court. It also sought supply of the list of unrelied documents and requested that the legal issue be referred to the High Court.