Delhi riots case: Court denies Sharjeel Imam interim bail

New Delhi: Former JNU student Sharjeel Imam was denied interim bail on the alleged conspiracy behind the 2020 northeast Delhi riots by a Delhi court, PTI reported.

Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat declined Imam's bail plea saying that no sufficient ground was there to grant him the relief.

Imam's counsel Ahmad Ibrahim submitted before the court that the accused had met the conditions for bail, and he was not at a flight risk nor at the risk of influencing witnesses or tampering with the evidence. Further, he did not make a conscious call for violence, Ibrahim said.

But Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad opposed the bail plea and said that the court should consider the gravity of the offence before granting the relief.

Sharjeel Imam is accused of making inflammatory speeches against the government on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), particularly at the Jamia Milia Islamia University in December 2019, which allegedly led to violence in the area outside the university. He, who has been in judicial custody since January 2020, is also burdened with sedition charges for the alleged speeches.

The charge sheet filed by the Delhi Police alleges that Imam gave speeches to incite hatred, contempt, and disaffection towards the Central government and instigated people, which led to the violence in December 2019.