The Delhi High Court will on Monday hear a plea by JNU student Sharjeel Imam seeking bail in connection with a 2019 Jamia Nagar violence case involving allegations under section 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code.
The case assails a 24 January 2022 order by a trial court that dismissed Imam’s bail application in the matter. It was listed for hearing before a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh.
On January 30, the Delhi High Court had sought to know the stand of the Delhi Police as to whether Imam's plea for bail could be remanded back to the trial court for adjudication as there was no ground mentioned in the lower court's order rejecting the relief.
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The bench had said since sedition charges have been kept in abeyance following the directions of the Supreme Court, it will have to examine the trial court's bail rejection order while keeping in mind the other sections framed against Imam.
The Delhi high court had last week overturned the trial court’s verdict discharging Imam, along with Safoora Zargar, Asif Iqbal Tanha, and eight others accused in the 2019 Jamia violence case. The high court, on March 28, charged them with rioting, unlawful assembly, assault on a public servant, and more.
Trial court order against Sharjeel Imam
Last year, the trial court had framed charges against Sharjeel Imam, a former research student at JNU, under sections 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity), l53B (imputations prejudicial to national integration), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the IPC and section 13 (punishment for unlawful activities) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
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As per the prosecution, Imam had allegedly made speeches at Jamia Millia Islamia on December 13, 2019, and at the Aligarh Muslim University on December 16, 2019, where he threatened to cut off Assam and the rest of the northeast from India.
In his petition before the high court, Imam has said the trial court “failed to recognise” that pursuant to the directions of the top court, the basis for dismissal of his earlier bail plea, i.e. the charge of sedition no longer existed and therefore relief must be granted to him.
On May 11, 2022, the Supreme Court had stayed till further orders the registration of FIRs, probes, and coercive measures for the offence of sedition across the country by the Centre and the states until an appropriate forum of the government re-examines the colonial-era penal law.
