5 yrs in jail, Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam bail pleas junked

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed the bail pleas of former JNU students Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and eight others, who have been behind bars for the past five years, in an anti-terror law case linked to the alleged conspiracy behind the 2020 Delhi riots. The court held that the 10 did not deserve parity with co-accused Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal, granted bail in September 2020.

2020 Delhi riots high court Setback for 10 accused

“It is trite in law that merely because co-accused have been granted bail, would not, by itself, entitle the other accused to bail; there are other considerations and factors which weigh in for considering parity,” a Division Bench of Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Shalinder Kaur said, rejecting the bail pleas of Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid, Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa Ur Rehman, Athar Khan, Meeran Haider, Shadab Ahmed, Abdul Khalid Saifi and Gulfisha Fatima.

“In our prima facie view, the role ascribed to the present appellant, as reflected from the material on record, is distinct than that of co-accused Kalita and Narwal in the alleged conspiracy,” the Bench said, concluding that “the ground of parity is not made out in favour of the appellants”. The bail plea of another accused, Tasleem Ahmed, was dismissed by a different Bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad and Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar.

The accused are facing charges of criminal conspiracy, sedition, promoting enmity between various groups, making statements conducing to public mischief under the Indian Penal Code and Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, for questioning the sovereignty, unity, or territorial integrity of India and causing disaffection against it. Imam and others were booked for allegedly being the “masterminds” of a “larger conspiracy” behind the February 2020 riots, coinciding with then Donald Trump’s visit, leaving 53 death and more than 700 injured. The violence had erupted during the protests against CAA and the NRC. Besides demanding parity with co-accused Kalita and Narwal, the accused had also sought bail on the ground that they had been in jail for around five years and the trial was likely to take more time to conclude.

However, Justice Kaur while writing the judgment rejected their second argument as well.