Days after Delhi High Court rejected the bail plea filed by former JNU student Sharjeel Imam, he has now approached the Supreme Court seeking bail in the larger conspiracy case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) related to the 2020 North East Delhi riots.
According to sources in the Supreme Court and its registry, his bail plea is likely to come up for hearing within 3–4 days, considering the sensitivity and importance of the case.
"The bail plea of the accused (Sharjeel Imam) may come up for hearing within 3–4 days, as the matter is very sensitive in nature," a source in the top court registry told TNIE.
Imam approached the Supreme Court after the High Court on September 2 denied bail to him and eight others, Umar Khalid, Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa-Ur-Rehman, Athar Khan, Meeran Haider, Shadab Ahmed, Abdul Khalid Saifi, and Gulfisha Fatima.
According to the prosecution, the Delhi Police booked Imam under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. He was arrested on January 28, 2020, by the Delhi Police’s Crime Branch from Bihar’s Jehanabad in a sedition case for allegedly making inflammatory speeches at Jamia Millia Islamia University and Aligarh Muslim University.
The riots occurred in February 2020, following clashes over the then-proposed Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). According to the Delhi Police, the riots led to the death of 53 people and left hundreds injured.
The prosecution has alleged that Imam was involved in hatching a larger criminal conspiracy to incite multiple riots. The FIR in this case was registered by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the UAPA.
Imam has been booked in multiple FIRs across several states, mostly under sedition and UAPA charges. Besides Delhi, he faces FIRs in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, and Arunachal Pradesh.
Imam was granted bail by the Delhi High Court last year in connection with his alleged speeches at Jamia Millia Islamia University and Aligarh Muslim University.
In the sedition cases registered in Aligarh and Guwahati, he was granted bail by the Allahabad High Court in 2021 and by the Gauhati High Court in 2020, respectively. He was also booked in FIRs in Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.