Former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Sharjeel Imam has moved the Supreme Court seeking bail in the larger conspiracy case under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in relation to the 2020 north-east Delhi riots.
On September 2, the Delhi High Court had denied bail to him and 8 others - Umar Khalid, Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa Ur Rehman, Athar Khan, Meeran Haider, Shadab Ahmed, Abdul Khalid Saifi and Gulfisha Fatima.Imam has challenged the Delhi High Court ruling passed on September 02 by a division bench comprising Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Shalinder Kaur denying bail to him.The matter is yet to be listed for hearing before the Apex Court. Imam was arrested on January 28, 2020.
In its order, the High Court observed that prima facie, the role of Imam and Umar Khalid in the entire conspiracy is “grave”, having delivered inflammatory speeches on communal lines to “instigate mass mobilization of members of the Muslim community.”
It further said that the trial need only progress naturally, as a “hurried trial” will be detrimental both to the accused and the State.
FIR 59 of 2020 was registered by Delhi Police's Special Cell under various offences under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
The riots occurred in February 2020, following clashes over the then-proposed Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). As per the Delhi Police, the riots caused the death of 53 persons and injured hundreds.The present case pertains to allegations that the accused had hatched a larger conspiracy to cause multiple riots. The FIR in this case was registered by a Special Cell of the Delhi Police under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the UAPA.
Most of the accused were booked in multiple FIRs, leading to multiple bail petitions before different courts. Most have been in custody since 2020.Sharjeel Imam was booked in multiple FIRs across several States, mostly under sedition and UAPA charges.In the case registered over speeches he gave at Jamia Milia Islamia University and Aligarh Muslim University, he was granted bail by the Delhi High Court last year. In the sedition cases registered in Aligarh and Guwahati, he was granted bail by the Allahabad High Court in 2021 and the Gauhati High Court in 2020, respectively. He was also booked in FIRs in Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.
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