Sharjeel Imam's bail plea to go before Delhi High Court in May

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday said that it will hear the bail plea of JNU student Sharjeel Imam on May 4. He is arrested in connection with the 2020 communal riot case involving allegations of sedition.

"Since section 124A (sedition) of the IPC has been kept in abeyance on the directions of the Supreme Court, it will have to examine the trial court’s bail rejection order while keeping in mind the other penal sections applied against Imam," said the court.

Last year, the trial court had framed charges against Imam under Sections 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity), l53B (Imputations prejudicial to national integration), 505 (Statements conducing to public mischief) of IPC, and Section 13 (Punishment for Unlawful Activities) of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

According to the prosecution, the petitioner on December 13, 2019 made speeches at Jamia Millia Islamia and at the Aligarh Muslim University on December 16, 2019. It is alleged that he threatened to cut off Assam and the rest of the North East from India. In his bail plea, he said that the trial court "failed to recognise" that pursuant to the directions of the top court, the basis for dismissal of his earlier bail plea- the charge of sedition- no longer existed and therefore relief must be granted to him.

The petition assails a January 24, 2022 order by the trial court dismissing his bail application. It was listed for hearing before a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Vikas Mahajan that fixed the matter for hearing in May. One of the parties was not available on Monday. The court on January 30 asked the city police to let its stand known. The court wanted to know if there was no ground mentioned in the lower court’s order for rejecting the relief.