Court cites jurisdiction, refuses to hear cop's bail plea in Jaitley case

A Delhi court on Saturday 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 Vidya Prakash refused to entertain constable Arvind Dabas’ bail plea relying upon the order of the Delhi High Court dividing the Capital into 11 metropolitan area.

The court decided not to hear the matter after Delhi Police special cell said the proceedings have to be kept in abeyance till the issue of jurisdiction 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 Capital into 11 metropolitan zones from March 1, 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.

When the judge wanted to know from the investigation office whether the present case was falling in his jurisdiction, 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.