New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday, July 17, sought the Delhi Police’s stand on activist Sharjeel Imam’s plea seeking bail in a case under the anti-terror UAPA law concerning the “larger conspiracy” behind the February 2020 Delhi riots.
A bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Vikas Mahajan issued notice on Imam’s appeal challenging the trial court’s July 4 decision to dismiss his second regular bail application. The bench granted the Delhi Police two weeks to file a reply to the appeal and listed the matter for hearing on August 27.
Imam’s counsel, Advocate Talib Mustafa, argued on Friday that the trial court failed to consider the “subsequent developments” after the Supreme Court refused to release him on bail in January and that even after more than six months, the trial court proceedings have remained stagnant as charges have yet to be framed.
Will file a reply: Delhi Police
Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the Delhi Police, said the Supreme Court considered the aspect of trial delay when it declined relief to the accused.
“We will file a reply,” he submitted while informing that the arguments of charges were held for more than 200 days, given the number of accused persons in the case.
Imam was arrested on August 25, 2020, and booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for being one of the “masterminds” of the February 2020 riots in northeast Delhi that left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.
The violence erupted during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, and the National Register of Citizens.
The trial court rejected Imam’s bail application, saying it had “no option but to follow” the Supreme Court’s January 5 order and, therefore, could neither entertain the plea nor grant him the relief. The trial court stated that the bail plea was not even maintainable before it.
Supreme Court’s January 5 order
In his appeal in the high court, Imam said the trial court erred in declining to independently examine his plea for regular bail. The plea said even after six years, the proceedings before the trial court had not moved beyond the stage of arguments on the charge.
On January 5, the Supreme Court refused bail to Umar Khalid and Imam in the larger conspiracy case, while granting relief to co-accused Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, Mohammad Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmad.
A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria then observed that there was a prima facie case against Khalid and Imam under the UAPA and held that all accused could not be treated equally in view of the “hierarchy of participation”.
