NEW DELHI: Former JNU scholar Sharjeel Imam on Thursday moved the Delhi high Court seeking bail in a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) linked to the alleged “larger conspiracy” behind the February 2020 Delhi riots, news agency PTI reported.Imam has challenged the trial court’s July 4 order dismissing his second regular bail application. His appeal is scheduled to be heard on Friday by a bench of Justice Prathiba M Singh and Justice Vikas Mahajan, according to PTI.Imam was arrested on August 25, 2020, and booked under the UAPA for allegedly being one of the “masterminds” of the February 2020 riots in northeast Delhi, in which 53 people were killed and more than 700 injured.The violence had erupted during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, and the National Register of Citizens, PTI reported.On July 4, the trial court rejected Imam’s bail application, observing that it had “no option but to follow” the Supreme Court’s January 5 order and, therefore, could neither entertain the plea nor grant him relief.The trial court also held that the bail application was not maintainable before it.In his appeal before the high court, Imam argued that the trial court had erred in declining to independently examine his plea for regular bail.The appeal further stated that even after six years, the proceedings before the trial court had not progressed beyond the stage of arguments on charge, PTI reported.On January 5, the Supreme Court refused bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the larger conspiracy case while granting relief to co-accused Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, Mohammad Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmad.A bench of Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice N V Anjaria had then observed that there was a prima facie case against Khalid and Imam under the UAPA and held that all accused could not be treated equally in view of the “hierarchy of participation”.(With agency inputs)
