Lucknow, Sep 9 (PTI) The Allahabad High Court on Thursday sought the Lucknow police chief's explanation on the prosecution's failure in replying to an anticipatory bail plea of a Shia cleric, who faced arrest in a rioting case but ended up evading it for over two months due to the court's interim order against the arrest.

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A court passes an interim order to any person for a brief period and then follows it up with its final order after considering replies of various parties.

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On an anticipatory bail plea of Shia cleric Syed Kalbe Sibtain alias Noori, a Lucknow bench of the high court had on July 31 this year given an interim relief of the protection of arrest in a case of rioting, arson and damage to public properties during an anti-CAA protest in 2019.

While giving the interim relief to the cleric, the bench of Justice Chandra Dhari Singh had asked the prosecution to file its reply to Noori's plea.

Since July 31, Noori bail plea was listed several times for hearing but the prosecution failed to file its reply during all these days, leading to an extension of the relief to the riot case accused.

As Noori's plea came up for hearing on Thursday, the court noticed that the prosecution was yet to file its reply.

This led the court to quiz the prosecution counsel who blamed the city police top brass' failure to give him proper instruction on the issue for his inability to file the reply.

This led the bench to direct the Lucknow police commissioner to file an affidavit in two weeks, explaining the Police Department's failure to give proper instruction to the prosecution counsel.

The bench also stipulated that if the Lucknow police commissioner fails to file the affidavit, he will have to be personally present in the court to explain his failure on the next date of the case on September 27.

“Given the seriousness of the matter, the CP is directed to file his personal affidavit within two weeks from today explaining therein as to why despite letters and telephonic conversations, the necessary assistance was not given to the state counsel in such a serious matter when the applicant-accused is enjoying the interim protection in the anticipatory bail for such a long time,” the bench said in its order.

Noori's name figures in the FIR along with 26 other named and over 2,000 unknown accused in the anti-CAA riot in December 2019 in Lucknow against the changes in the citizenship Act.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)