The Delhi High Court has requested a status report from the Delhi police regarding a plea filed by Abdul Subhan Qureshi, an accused seeking statutory bail in a UAPA case.
Qureshi, identified by the police as the editor of a publication affiliated with SIMI, is also recognized as one of the co-founders of the Indian Mujahideen (IM).
Seeking bail based on the grounds of spending nearly five years in custody, Qureshi has been entangled in approximately 40 cases, with his arrest in the current case dating back to June 2019.
A division bench comprising justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain has directed the Delhi police to submit a status report on Qureshi's plea.
Representing Qureshi, Advocate Prashant Prakash highlighted his client's prolonged incarceration of over four years and ten months. He emphasised that the maximum punishment for the offences Qureshi faces is five years. However, the state prosecutor opposed the petition.
Qureshi, often dubbed as the "Osama Bin Laden of India," faced a setback when his bail plea was rejected by the trial court in December 2023 due to the seriousness of the charges against him and his prior conduct.
He is implicated in a case filed in 2021 and was arrested in connection with this case subsequent to his arrest in another case in 2018.
The charges against Qureshi include sections 153 A, 153B, and 120 B of the IPC along with sections 10 and 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Notably, he was a member of SIMI, an organisation banned by the Central Government in 2001.