Delhi HC asks police to reply on Sharjeel Imam bail plea, sets date for hearing

Delhi police claimed that Sharjeel Imam instigated a “particular religious community” against the Centre by creating unfounded fears in their minds regarding the CAA and the NRC.

The Delhi high court asked police on Wednesday to reply on a plea filed by Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Sharjeel Imam, who was arrested in a sedition case for allegedly delivering an ‘inflammatory speech’ and inciting violence during the nationwide protests aaginst the amended citizenship laws and the National Register of Citizens in 2019.

Sharjeel Imam was arrested on January 28, 2020, from Bihar’s Jehanabad district on charges of sedition. (REUTERS)

A bench of Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar issued notice to the prosecution and asked them to file reply to the bail plea while listing the matter for further hearing on February 11, next year, news agency PTI reported.

Sharjeel Imam, who was represented through senior advocate Sanjay R Hegde, challenged a trial court’s October 22 order by which his bail plea was dismissed. The prosecution was represented through special public prosecutor Amit Prasad.

Imam submitted that all the co-accused, who were arrested for allegedly causing the violence, have been granted bail in the case and he was still incarcerated for over 20 months now. Sharjeel was arrested on January 28, 2020, from Bihar’s Jehanabad district.

The trial court had denied him bail saying free speech cannot be exercised at the cost of communal peace and harmony.

According to the prosecution, Imam had allegedly delivered a provocative speech on December 13, 2019, which resulted in riots two days later when a mob of more than 3,000 people attacked police personnel and torched several vehicles in the Jamia Nagar area in south Delhi.

The trial court had said that the evidence in support of the allegations that the rioters got instigated by Imam's speech and thereafter indulged in the acts of rioting, mischief, attacking the police party, was scanty and sketchy.

It had said however that a cursory and plain reading of the speech showed it was clearly on communal lines, PTI reported.

“The tone and tenor of the incendiary speech tend to have a debilitating effect upon public tranquillity, peace, and harmony of the society,” the trial court had said, adding that “it is no gainsaying that fundamental right of ‘freedom of speech and expression’ cannot be exercised at the cost of communal peace and harmony of the society.”

However, the Allahabad high court last week granted bail to Imam in a separate sedition case registered against him for his alleged inflammatory speech made on the Aligarh Muslim University campus during a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act on January 16, 2020.

Delhi police had claimed that Imam instigated a “particular religious community” against the Centre by creating unfounded fears in their minds regarding the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens.

Besides this case, Imam is also accused of being the "mastermind" of the February 2020 riots, which had left 53 people dead and over 700 injured. He has been booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

(With inputs from PTI)