The Delhi High Court on July 7, 2025, reserved its verdict in a significant plea filed by Devangana Kalita, a Pinjra Tod activist, who sought the preservation and reconstruction of case diaries related to the 2020 Delhi riots investigation in FIR No. 48/2020, registered at Jafrabad Police Station.
Kalita challenged a trial court order dated November 6, 2024, which had refused her request. She urged the High Court to direct the Delhi Police to preserve and reconstruct Booklets 9989 and 9990, used in the investigation of the case titled State v. Faizan & Ors.
"Arguments heard. Reserved for order,"
— Justice Ravinder Dudeja, Delhi High Court
The court had earlier, on December 2, 2024, instructed the authorities to preserve all case diaries, particularly Volumes 9989 and 9990, until the High Court decided on Kalita’s plea.
During the recent hearing, Advocate Adit Pujari, appearing for Kalita, alleged serious discrepancies in the case diary. He highlighted that Section 161 CrPC statements were anti-dated, which could compromise the integrity of the investigation.
"Case diaries are duly paginated... This ensures the chronological order of investigation is maintained,"
— Advocate Adit Pujari
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He emphasized that their request was only for preservation, not for access, stating the importance of keeping the entire diary intact for transparency.
"Preservation of case diary means the entire police diary; so the whole volume is safeguarded,"
— Pujari explained in court
Pujari pointed out that despite these volumes being already used in other cases, preserving them now was critical to avoid further complications.
"If case diaries are not preserved today, it will lead to havoc subsequently,"
— Adit Pujari
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The State, represented by its counsel, countered that the entire police file is already with the magistrate, and the majority of the pages from the booklets in question had been preserved. They admitted that 2–3 pages might be misplaced but claimed that these would not affect the substance of the record.
"These volumes are already part of the case diary... maybe 4–5 sheets were used in another case,"
— State’s Counsel
The court then questioned the State's resistance to fully preserve the entire police booklets.
"What is the prejudice in preserving the entire police booklet 9989 and 9990?"
— Court's Query to State Counsel
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Clarifying further, Pujari said that their prayer included reconstruction of certain documents which the prosecution had relied on, and that the request did not involve seeking direct access to the diaries.
"Only for preservation and reconstruction. We are not asking to be shown the case diary,"
— Adit Pujari
In response, the court noted that the materials were already present and that any issue with anti-dated statements could be examined by the trial court during proceedings.
"If there is a statement which court feels is anti-dated, the trial court may form its opinion,"
— Court observed
After a detailed exchange of arguments, the Delhi High Court reserved its verdict on the matter.
Case Title: Devangana Kalita vs State (NCT of Delhi)