Delhi court grants Sharjeel Imam interim bail

New DelhiA Delhi court on Tuesday granted interim bail, from October 4 to October 10, to student activist Sharjeel Imam in the 2020 northeast Delhi riots larger conspiracy case, allowing him to attend his cousin’s wedding

New Delhi

Sharjeel Imam in police custody in 2020. (HT Archive)

A Delhi court on Tuesday granted interim bail, from October 4 to October 10, to student activist Sharjeel Imam in the 2020 northeast Delhi riots larger conspiracy case, allowing him to attend his cousin’s wedding.

A detailed copy of the verdict, passed by additional sessions judge Sameer Bajpai, is awaited.

The Delhi Police arrested Sharjeel Imam on January 28, 2020, framing charges against him under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), alleging that the two were the intellectual architects behind the entire conspiracy, working in tandem with the other co-conspirators, which escalated into large-scale communal violence. The riots and subsequent violence erupted on February 23, 2020, following clashes between Hindus and Muslims over the then-proposed Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Hundreds were injured and 53 died in the riots.

The order comes a day after the Delhi High Court adjourned Imam and Umar Khalid’s bail petitions for September 30.

Previously, the Delhi Police opposed Imam and Khalid’s bail petitions before the Delhi High Court, describing them as the “masterminds” of the violence. In an affidavit filed last month, the police contended that the bail pleas were misconceived and legally untenable, and that the Supreme Court, while denying them bail on January 5, had categorised their role as that of a command authority, distinct from the other co-accused.