New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Delhi High Court to expedite the bail application hearing of student activist Sharjeel Imam, an accused in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case, and whose plea has been pending since April 2022.
A bench comprising Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma issued this directive while hearing Imam’s writ petition, in which he sought the Supreme Court’s intervention for a swift decision from the Delhi High Court regarding his bail application.
During the hearing, the court advised Imam to approach the High Court directly to request an early hearing on the upcoming scheduled date.
The bench asked why the petitioner had sought relief from the Supreme Court when the matter was still pending in the High Court.
Senior Advocate Siddharth Dave, representing Imam, clarified that the intention was not to seek bail directly from the Supreme Court but to expedite the High Court hearing.
The High Court is set to review the case on November 25.
Dave highlighted that under Section 21(2) of the National Investigation Agency Act, the High Court is mandated to resolve appeals within three months.
He informed the court that Imam’s appeal challenging the rejection of bail, initially filed on April 29, 2022, has faced extensive delays, including 64 adjournments with eight attributed to the petitioner’s own requests.
Justice Trivedi noted that the Supreme Court would not entertain the petition at this stage.
Dave expressed concern that the High Court may interprete the Supreme Court’s refusal as a denial of bail, prompting the bench to record that the petitioner was not pressing for bail.
Imam has been charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code over allegations of orchestrating the 2020 Delhi riots following protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
He was taken into custody on January 28, 2020. Despite the prolonged detention, trial proceedings remain incomplete, with charges still pending.
Alongside Imam, several others face allegations related to the riots, including Tahir Hussain, Umar Khalid, and Safoora Zargar, among others.
Initially, Imam sought bail from the trial court, which was dismissed. He then moved to the Delhi High Court, where his plea has been stalled due to multiple factors, including judicial recusals and roster changes, with no substantive hearing held to date.
In May, the Delhi High Court granted statutory bail to Imam in a separate sedition case linked to anti-CAA speeches delivered at Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia. UNI
