Student activist Sharjeel Imam, currently lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail in connection with the Delhi riots case, has moved a Delhi court seeking interim bail to contest the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections.
Imam, who has been in jail for over five years, will contest the elections from the Bahadurganj constituency in Kishanganj district as an independent candidate. He has requested bail from October 15 to October 29, ahead of polling in Bahadurganj on November 11.
The Bihar Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in two phases on November 6 and November 11, with the results set to be declared on November 14.
The interim bail application has been filed before Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Sameer Bajpai of the Karkardooma Courts, who is currently hearing the Delhi riots conspiracy case, according to Bar and Bench.
Bahadurganj is presently represented by Mohammad Anzar Nayeemi, who was elected in 2020 on an AIMIM ticket but later switched to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
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Imam, an anti-CAA activist originally from Kako village in Jehanabad, has spent more than five years in pre-trial detention.
His petition is currently under consideration before the Supreme Court, following a refusal of bail last month by the Delhi High Court in the larger conspiracy case linked to the February 2020 Delhi riots.
His counsel has argued that his prolonged incarceration is due to systemic delays in the trial, for which he cannot be held responsible.
The student activist’s announcement comes months after the Delhi riots, in which Shifa-ur Rehman and Tahir Hussain contested assembly elections in Delhi on the AIMIM ticket.
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