Delhi High Court rejects 2020 riots accused Devangana Kalita’s plea seeking videos, WhatsApp chats

3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jun 5, 2026 05:28 PM IST

Justice Bansal Friday dismissed Devangana Kalita’s plea and vacated the stay. A detailed order is awaited. (File Photo/ Image enhanced using Google Gemini)

The Delhi High Court on Friday vacated its stay that had restrained the trial court from passing a final order on framing of charges against the accused in the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots ‘larger’ conspiracy case. This came after the court dismissed a plea by activist and riots accused Devangana Kalita seeking video footage and police chat records of the violence.

The trial court had completed hearing arguments on framing of charges, and the prosecution is expected to rebut on specific aspects.

In September 2024, Justice Neena Bansal Krishna, while allowing the trial court to continue hearing arguments on charge, had restrained it from passing any final order. The direction had come on Kalita’s plea.

On Thursday, the prosecution, referring to the stay, had requested Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya to transfer the matter from Justice Krishna, noting that she had yet to pronounce the final order on Kalita’s plea. Chief Justice Upadhyaya orally assured the prosecution that he would examine the issue on the administrative side.

Justice Bansal Friday dismissed Kalita’s plea and vacated the stay. A detailed order is awaited.

Kalita, in her plea filed in 2023, had sought copies of electronic evidence and documents relied upon or referred to in the police report filed in the alleged larger conspiracy case after a trial court had earlier refused to supply CCTV footage and WhatsApp chats of police groups to the accused.

In August 2023, the prosecution had argued before the trial court that these were not supplied as they are relevant for investigation of other riot cases and where investigation/further investigation is still going on and accused are still being apprehended.

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The court had conceded to the prosecution’s stance, reasoning that such CCTV footage is not required to be supplied, “considering the nature of the present case and the fact that investigation is going on in other individual cases…”

Kalita had also sought communication/information/chats of police operation groups, not relied on by the prosecution, including WhatsApp chats. The trial court had refused to allow inspection of the same, after the prosecution argued that these contain sensitive information/privileged communication, and cannot be disclosed.

Justice Neena Bansal Krishna had reserved the plea for orders on January 8.

Kalita, along with others, is facing charges of pre-planned conspiracy to allegedly spark riots in Northeast Delhi between February 23 and 25, 2020. The accused have been charged under provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Prevention of Damage to Public Property (PDPP) Act, Arms Act, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 (UAPA).

Sohini Ghosh is a Senior Correspondent at The Indian Express. Previously based in Ahmedabad covering Gujarat, she recently moved to the New Delhi bureau, where she primarily covers legal developments at the Delhi High Court

Professional Profile

Background: An alumna of the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), she previously worked with ET NOW before joining The Indian Express.

Core Beats: Her reporting is currently centered on the Delhi High Court, with a focus on high-profile constitutional disputes, disputes over intellectual property, criminal and civil cases, issues of human rights and regulatory law (especially in the areas of technology and healthcare).

Earlier Specialty: In Gujarat, she was known for her rigorous coverage in the beats of crime, law and policy, and social justice issues, including the 2002 riot cases, 2008 serial bomb blast case, 2016 flogging of Dalits in Una, among others.

She has extensively covered health in the state, including being part of the team that revealed the segregation of wards at the state’s largest government hospital on lines of faith in April 2020.

With Ahmedabad being a UNESCO heritage city, she has widely covered urban development and heritage issues, including the redevelopment of the Sabarmati Ashram

Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025)

Her recent reporting from the Delhi High Court covers major political, constitutional, corporate, and public-interest legal battles:

High-Profile Case Coverage

She has extensively covered the various legal battles - including for compensation under the aegis of North East Delhi Riots Claims Commission - pertaining to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, as well as 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

She has also led coverage at the intersection of technology and governance, and its impact on the citizenry, from, and beyond courtrooms — such as the government’s stakeholder consultations for framing AI-Deepfake policy.

Signature Style

Sohini is recognized for her sustained reporting from courtrooms and beyond. She specialises in breaking down dense legal arguments to make legalese accessible for readers. Her transition from Gujarat to Delhi has seen her expand her coverage on regulatory, corporate and intellectual property law, while maintaining a strong commitment to human rights and lacuna in the criminal justice system.

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