Delhi HC Refuses to Stay Bail Granted by Trial Court to Khurram Parvez and Irfan Mehraj in UAPA Case
New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Tuesday (July 21) refused to stay the trial court order of July 18 in a 2020 Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) case that granted bail to human rights activist Khurram Parvez and Kashmiri journalist Irfan Mehraj. However, the court imposed stricter bail conditions on the duo, reported LiveLaw.
While refusing to stay the bail granted to the duo by the trial court, a division bench comprising Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Vikas Mahajan said on Tuesday that prima facie, the trial court failed to come to any conclusion in terms of the proviso of Section 43D (5) of UAPA.
“The trial court is a not constitutional court and ought to prima facie strictly go by the statute. Absence of any findings, the matter would require consideration of this court. However since this is an order where bail was granted by trial court under various condition, without opinion on the merits and bearing in mind serious nature of allegations, following further conditions are imposed,” said the high court.
The stricter conditions imposed on Parvez and Mehraj include both of them being required to meet the investigating officer (IO) twice in a week. Parvez and Mehraj have also been told by the court to not to indulge in similar activities or with groups of organisations like Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) or allied organisations.
Both are free to interact with close friends, relatives and family members but have been barred from indulging in communication or meetings with anyone named in chargesheet.
Earlier, senior advocate Madahv Khuarana had appeared for the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and submitted that the trial court has not made any observations or findings in terms of the proviso in question and the release of Parvez and Mehraj would be contrary to national interest and could seriously jeopardise national security.
Parvez was represented by senior advocate Tanvir Ahmed Mir, along with Advocates Swati and Kartik Venu while advocate Jawahar Raja represented Mehraj.
They argued in the court that it is only in extreme circumstances that a bail order, which is mechanical, can be interfered with.
The bail order on July 18 was passed by additional sessions Judge Pittambur Dutt of the Patiala House Courts in the case registered as RC-37/2020, which the NIA has described as the “NGO terror funding case”.
The fresh order comes a little over a month after the Delhi high court granted bail to Parvez in a separate NIA case.
In the present case, the NIA named Parvez as the first accused, Mehraj as the second and Ghulam Hassan Bana, whom the agency describes as absconding in Pakistan, as the third accused.
The agency has alleged that the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), where Parvez served as programme coordinator and Mehraj worked as a researcher, “received foreign funding that was channelled to the banned militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen under the guise of human rights work”. Both Parvez and Mehraj have denied the allegations through counsel.
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