Delhi High Court denies early hearing of activist Sharjeel Imam’s bail plea

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday rejected activist Sharjeel Imam’s plea seeking an early hearing of his bail application, Bar and Bench reported.

Imam has been charged with conspiracy under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act in connection with the 2020 Delhi riots.

A division bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Girish Kathpalia said that the plea would be heard on the originally scheduled date of October 7.

Imam, a former scholar at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, had contended that his bail plea in the case has been pending since April 2022, despite being listed for hearing more than 60 times before seven benches, Bar and Bench reported.

The activist also said there was no likelihood of the trial being completed soon, as the police had not concluded its investigation. More than 1,000 witnesses are set to be examined by the court, he pointed out.

On May 29, the Delhi High Court granted bail to Imam in a case about making allegedly seditious speeches during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Imam was arrested on January 28, 2020. He was eligible for statutory bail as he had spent four years in jail, while the maximum sentence for his alleged offence in the sedition case is seven years.

However, Imam remained in jail in a conspiracy case related to the Delhi riots.

Clashes had broken out in North East Delhi in February 2020 between supporters of the Citizenship Amendment Act and those opposing it. The violence left 53 dead and hundreds injured. Most of those killed were Muslims.

The Delhi Police has claimed that the violence was part of a larger conspiracy to defame the Narendra Modi government and was plotted by those who organised the protests against the contentious citizenship law.

In February, a Delhi court had denied Imam statutory bail in both the cases against him.