Court Grants Two-Week Interim Bail to Al-Falah University Founder Citing Medical Condition of Wife

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Saturday (March 7) granted a two-week interim bail to Javed Ahmed Siddiqui, founder and managing trustee of Al-Falah University in Faridabad, Haryana, who was arrested in November last year by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering investigation. While granting the interim bail, the court cited the medical condition of Siddiqui’s wife, reported Hindustan Times.

The HT report added that the ED will approach the Delhi high court to challenge the bail. Siddiqui’s wife is presently battling Stage-4 cancer and undergoing chemotherapy at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital.

“Siddiqui has misdeclared before the court that his children are unable to travel and take care of their ailing mother. The travel history of the children shows that they rarely visited India, and even when they did, their stay was for a very short duration. If the ailment were indeed so serious, it would be expected, by any reasonable standard, that all the children would have visited India and stayed with their mother to care for her,” HT quoted an anonymous ED officer.

A second ED officer told the newspaper Siddiqui’s son, Afham Ahmad Siddiqui, and daughter, Afiya Siddiqa, have not cooperated with the summons issued by the ED and have never appeared.

While granting the interim bail, additional sessions judge (ASJ) Sheetal Chaudhary Pradhan of the Saket courts noted that Siddiqui’s wife required care and support at home.

“Interim bail on medical grounds, is a legal concept that allows a prisoner to be released from jail on medical grounds of his family members particularly in the case of his wife,” said the court, even as the ED opposed the plea.

The gaze of investigative agencies fell on Al Falah soon after an explosion in Delhi’s Red Fort area on the evening of November 10, in which at least 12 were killed and 28 injured. Umar Un Nabi, the man who allegedly drove the car that carried explosive material and exploded, was an associate professor at the university’s medical college.

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