2020 Delhi Riots Case: High Court Seeks Police Reply On Sharjeel Imam’s Bail Plea

The Delhi High Court on Friday sought a response from the Delhi Police on a bail plea filed by student activist Sharjeel Imam in the alleged larger conspiracy case connected to the February 2020 riots in the national capital.

A division bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Vikas Mahajan issued notice to the police and scheduled the matter for further hearing on August 27.

“Issue notice. List on August 27,” the bench said in its order.

Imam approached the High Court through his lawyers, Ibrahim and Talib Mustafa, challenging a July 4 order of the trial court that rejected his fresh bail application, Hindustan Times reported.

On July 4, the trial court had dismissed the bail pleas of Imam and accused Umar Khalid, ruling that there was no basis to “entertain” the fresh applications. It said it could not assess whether circumstances had changed after the Supreme Court rejected their earlier pleas in January.

Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai of the Karkardooma Courts noted that the difference of opinion between the Supreme Court’s January 5 judgment in the Gulfisha Fatima case and a later ruling in the matter involving Syed Iftikhar Andrabi had been referred to a larger bench of the apex court.

The trial court held that until the legal issue was settled, it could not consider the fresh bail applications on any ground.

In the subsequent case, the Supreme Court had expressed “serious reservations” about the reasoning in the January 5 judgment. It observed that the ruling may not have correctly applied the principles laid down in the 2021 judgment in Union of India vs KA Najeeb.

The KA Najeeb judgment recognised that prolonged imprisonment and delays in completing a trial could outweigh the statutory restrictions on granting bail under Section 43D(5) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

During Friday’s hearing, Imam’s lawyers argued that the trial court had wrongly concluded that there were no grounds to consider a fresh bail plea. They described the finding as fallacious, pointing out that the trial had not progressed and charges were yet to be framed.

The defence submitted that the stage of the proceedings had remained unchanged since January, when the Supreme Court rejected Imam’s previous bail application.

Opposing the plea, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, representing the Delhi Police, said the trial court had already examined the issue of delay while rejecting bail in its January order. SV Raju argued that considerable time had been spent hearing submissions on the framing of charges. He also told the High Court that the police would file a detailed response to Imam’s application.

Imam was arrested by the Delhi Police on January 28, 2020. He and other accused, including Khalid, were booked under the stringent UAPA in connection with the alleged conspiracy behind the riots.

The police have alleged that Imam and Khalid were among the “intellectual architects” of the conspiracy and had worked with other accused persons in events that eventually escalated into large-scale communal violence.

The riots began on February 23, 2020, amid protests concerning the Citizenship Amendment Act. At least 53 people were killed and hundreds were injured in the violence.