New Delhi: A Delhi court on Saturday sought a response from the Delhi Police on fresh bail applications filed by Sharjeel Imam and Umar Khalid in the larger conspiracy case related to the 2020 Delhi riots.
The court issued notices on the bail pleas and directed the Delhi Police to submit its reply. The matter has been listed for further hearing on July 4.
Imam and Khalid have filed regular bail applications in the case registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and other penal provisions.
In his plea, Sharjeel Imam argued that despite more than six months having passed since the Supreme Court rejected his bail application in January, there has been no substantial progress in the trial. His application stated that arguments on the framing of charges are yet to be completed and that he has remained in custody for nearly six years in the case.
Umar Khalid has also approached the trial court seeking regular bail. The court heard both applications together and sought the Delhi Police’s response.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court dismissed the bail pleas of Khalid and Imam, observing that the prosecution material disclosed prima facie grounds attracting the restrictions on bail under Section 43D(5) of the UAPA.
However, the apex court granted bail to five other accused in the case — Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, Mohd Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmed.
More recently, the Supreme Court granted six months’ interim bail to Tasleem Ahmed and Khalid Saifi while referring to a larger Bench the issue of whether prolonged incarceration and delays in trial can justify granting bail despite the restrictions under Section 43D(5) of the UAPA.
The Supreme Court noted that different Benches had expressed varying views on the interpretation of the three-judge Bench judgment in Union of India vs K.A. Najeeb.
A Bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and Prasanna B. Varale directed the registry to place the matter before the Chief Justice of India (CJI) for constituting an appropriate Bench.
The order came after Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, appearing for the Delhi Police, argued that there was a divergence in how coordinate Benches of the Supreme Court were applying the K.A. Najeeb judgment while considering bail pleas under stringent laws such as the UAPA and the NIA Act.
The Justice Aravind Kumar-led Bench also referred to the subsequent judgment in Syed Iftikhar Andrabi vs National Investigation Agency (NIA), where another coordinate Bench raised concerns over certain aspects of the ruling that had denied bail to Khalid and Imam while granting relief to five other accused in the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case.
Without commenting on the merits of the prosecution’s allegations, the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Ahmed and Saifi for six months, noting that they had spent a substantial period in custody and that the trial was unlikely to conclude in the near future.
With IANS inputs