Shazil Imam, accused of Delhi riot cases, has filed a bail petition in the Supreme Court. Earlier, the High Court refused to grant bail to the Imam and 8 other accused. The Imam is accused of being the main conspirator.
Delhi riots case: Shaziil Imam, an accused in Delhi riot cases, filed a petition in the Supreme Court for bail on Saturday. He has challenged the decision of the Delhi High Court in which he was refused to grant bail in the UAPA case associated with the alleged major conspiracy behind the 2020 north-eastern Delhi riots.
On September 2, Delhi High Court rejected bail plea
The Delhi High Court refused to grant bail on 2 September to Imam and eight others- Omar Khalid, Mohammad Salim Khan, Shifa Ur Rehman, Athar Khan, Miran Haider, Shadab Ahmed, Abdul Khalid Saifi and Gulfisha Fatima.
The Delhi Police had opposed the petitions, saying that it was not a case of sudden riots. There was a case where riots were “already planned well”. It was “malicious motive and well-conspired” behind it.
The High Court had said that prima facie the role of Imam and Khalid in the entire conspiracy was “serious”. Both gave inflammatory speeches to raise mass members of the Muslim community on a large scale.
Delhi Police arrested Sharjil Imam in 2020
The Imam has sought bail from the apex court in a big conspiracy case under strict provisions of the illegal activities (prevention) Act (UAPA) in the case of Delhi riots in February 2020. In 2020, the Imam was arrested by the Delhi Police under the UAPA. He was described as the main conspirator of the Delhi riot case.
High Court had said that UAPA is a case, will not give bail
The High Court had said that Section 43D (5) of UAPA bans bail. Bail cannot be granted if the allegations seem prima facie correct. The testimony of the witnesses is still on. There is a danger of tampering with witnesses.
The court rejected the arguments of the accused to stay in jail for a long time. It was said that prolonged custody alone for bail in UAPA cases is not enough, especially given the complexity of investigation. This includes more than 3,000 -page charge sheet, 30,000 -page digital evidence, four supplementary charge sheet and 58 witnesses.
Also read- What is Delhi riot 2020, why in the discussion now? Learn the whole matter in 9 questions and answers
Explain that violence erupted during the protest of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Civil Register (NRC) in Delhi in February 2020. Due to this 53 people were killed and more than 700 were injured.