New Delhi: The Supreme Court today, October 25, asked the Delhi high court to consider JNU activist Sharjeel Imam’s plea for quick disposal of his bail plea. Imam had filed the plea seeking bail in the 2020 Delhi riots larger conspiracy case but it has been pending since April 2022.
LiveLaw has reported that a bench of Justices Bela M. Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma first asked Imam as to why he filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court when the matter is pending in the high court. Imam’s counsel, senior advocate Siddharth Dave, said that Imam’s appeal, challenging the rejection of bail was filed on April 29, 2022, and “it was adjourned 64 times, with the petitioner seeking time on eight postings.” This, he said, went against the mandate under Section 21(2) of the National Investigation Agency Act, to decide an appeal within three months.
The bench said that Iman “shall be at liberty to request the High Court to hear the bail application as expeditiously as possible on the next date and it is expected that the High Court shall consider the said request.”
The matter is listed before the Delhi high court on November 25, the apex court also noted.
To Justice Trivedi’s question on eight FIRs against Imam, Dave noted that the plea was related to only one FIR under the Unlawful Prevention of Activities Act.
The LiveLaw report notes:
The bench, in its order, observed that it was not inclined to entertain the petition. When Dave raised an apprehension that the High Court might construe the Supreme Court’s observation as a rejection of the bail, the bench recorded his submission in the order that the relief of bail was not pressed by the petitioner.
Imam has been in jail since January 28, 2020, as an undertrial over the Citizenship Amendment Act protests. The Delhi riots took place in late February, when Imam was already in jail.
Imam, along with JNU activist Umar Khalid, and others were booked over allegations of conspiring to cause the riots.
