A Delhi court today declined to hear the bail plea of a policeman, one of the
four accused arrested for illegally retrieving call details of BJP leader Arun
Jaitley, saying the case does not fall in its jurisdiction.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Vidya Prakash refused to entertain constable
Arvind Dabas' bail plea relying upon the order of the Delhi High Court dividing
the national capital into 11 Metropolitan area.
The court decided not to hear the matter after the Delhi Police Special Cell
said the proceedings have to be kept in abeyance till the issue of juridiction
is clarified.
The prosecution told the CMM that none of the alleged offences in the case comes
within the jurisdiction of this court.
The jurisdictional issue cropped up as the Delhi High Court has divided the
national capital into 11 Metropolitan zones from March 1 this year and each zone
will have a separate CMM.
Earlier, the city was divided into nine Revenue districts and there was only one
CMM who was dealing with the cases of Special Cell of Delhi Police.
When the judge wanted to know from the Investigation Office whether the present
case was falling in his jurisdiction, the Delhi Police replied in the negative.
The officers of Special Cell said neither the office of the telecom company, nor
its own office, nor that of the ACP whose computer was hacked falls under
Central district.
The prosecution, however, submitted that since the FIR in the case was filed
before this court, the case should be kept here. The judge was, however, not
impressed with the argument.
The court said it has got no power to hear the bail plea as also the entire case
since none of the offence alleged was committed within its jurisdiction.
Emerging story. Watch this space for updates as more details come in
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