Institute of Legal and Management Studies

The Delhi High Court dismissed the bail pleas filed by Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and seven other accused persons in the 2020 Delhi riots "larger conspiracy" case.

A division bench of Justice Naveen Chawla and Justice Shalinder Kaur pronounced the verdict.

The other accused include Athar Khan, Khalid Saifi, Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa ur Rehman, Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima and Shadab Ahmed.

All the accused persons challenged orders passed by the trial court denying them bail in the case.

During the hearings, Umar Khalid, represented through Senior Advocate Trideep Pais, had submitted that merely being on WhatsApp groups, without sending any message, is no criminality.

Pais also submitted that there is no recovery, money or otherwise, effected from Khalid and that the alleged secret meeting on the night of 23-24 February 2020 was not at all secretive as claimed by the prosecution

Accused Khalid Saifi, represented through Senior Advocate Rebecca John, submitted “Can UAPA on the basis of innocuous messages or their (prosecution) attempt to make stories out of such messages, can it become a reason to deny me bail or is it even a ground to prosecute me under UAPA?”

John further submitted that Saifi deserved to be released on bail on the ground of parity with three co-accused persons who have been released on bail in June 2021.

Sharjeel Imam submitted he is completely disconnected from all the co-accused persons and is not part of any kind of conspiracy or conspiracy meetings as alleged by the Delhi Police.

Imam's counsel, Advocate Talib Mustafa, submitted that Imam's role in the riots as alleged by the prosecution is stated to be till January 23, 2020, and the last overt act relied upon by the Delhi Police is a speech delivered by him in Bihar.

SGI Tushar Mehta appearing for Delhi Police opposed the bail pleas saying “If you are doing something against the nation, then you better be in jail till you are acquitted or convicted.”

Mehta said that the accused persons' intention was to globally defame the nation by choosing a particular day for more rioting and more arson.

Delhi Police was also represented by Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad.

Another coordinate bench comprising Justice Prasad and Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar co accused Tasleem Ahmed

FIR 59 of 2020 was registered by Delhi Police's Special Cell under various offences under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

The accused in the case are Tahir Hussain, Umar Khalid, Khalid Saifi, Isharat Jahan, Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima, Shifa-Ur-Rehman, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Shadab Ahmed, Tasleem Ahmed, Saleem Malik, Mohd. Saleem Khan, Athar Khan, Safoora Zargar, Sharjeel Imam, Faizan Khan and Natasha Narwal.

Title: Sharjeel Imam v. State & other connected matters