Sharjeel Imam gets statutory bail in 2020 Delhi riots case, but won’t walk free
Imam had challenged a trial order not granting him bail on the grounds that he has spent more than half of the maximum sentence that can be awarded to him in case of a conviction
JNU scholar Sharjeel Imam, who was booked for sedition and under UAPA for allegedly making inflammatory speeches against the Citizenship Amendment Act in Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia area in the national capital, has been granted statutory bail.
The bail was given by a bench of justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain on Wednesday (May 29). However, Imam will continue to remain behind bars for his alleged involvement in the "larger conspiracy to incite the Delhi riots".
The violence had erupted during the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Besides Iman, activists Umar Khalid, Khalid Saifi and former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain, twenty in all, were booked for their alleged involvement in the larger conspiracy to incite the riots, which had left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.
The case is being investigated by the Delhi Police Special Cell.
Umar Khalid bail rejected
This order comes in the wake of a special court in Delhi rejecting the bail plea of former JNU student Umar Khalid, who is also an accused in the larger conspiracy case linked to the 2020 Delhi communal riots on Tuesday (May 28).
This was Khalid's second regular bail plea. He has been booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). the court said its previous order dismissing his first application had attained finality.
Dismissing the plea, additional sessions judge Sameer Bajpai said, "When the Delhi High Court has already dismissed the criminal appeal of the applicant (Khalid) vide order dated October 18, 2022, and thereafter, the applicant approached the Supreme Court and withdrew his petition, the order of this court as passed on March 24, 2022, has attained finality and now, in no stretch of imagination this court can make analysis of the facts of the case as desired by the applicant and consider the relief as prayed by him."
Taking note of the submissions of Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad, the court said there was "no delay in framing of charge and commencement of the trial by the Delhi Police".
The court also rejected the argument of Khalid's counsel that the Supreme Court's view about "prima facie evidence" against an accused had changed because of the grant of bail to activist Vernon Gonsalves in July 2023 and to academic-activist Shoma Kanti Sen on April 5 this year in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case.
Sharjeel Imam’s case
Delhi high court’s order in Sharjeel Imam’s case was given after he challenged a trial court order that had denied him bail. He had challenged the order on the grounds that he has already served more than half of the maximum sentence that can be awarded to him in case of a conviction.
Imam has been in custody for the last four years and seven months and the maximum sentence for the offence under section 13 (punishment for unlawful activities) of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is 7 years, if convicted, his lawyer had argued.
On February 17, the trial court dismissed his plea observing that his speeches and activities “mobilised the public” which disrupted the national capital and might be the main reason for the outbreak of the 2020 riots. "Further, through inflammatory speeches and social media, the applicant skillfully manipulated the real facts and incited the public in order to create havoc in the city,” the trial court had said.
Imam was booked under FIR 22 of 2020 registered by Delhi Police's Special Branch. While the case was initially registered for the offence of sedition, Section 13 of UAPA was invoked later. He has been custody in the case since January 28, 2020.