The Delhi High Court on Friday said it will hear the bail pleas of former JNU student leader Umar Khalid and JNU student Sharjeel Imam in the Delhi riots case on May 6, a day after the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear pleas challenging the sedition law. The court observed that since the challenge was pending before the top court and could have a bearing on the current case as well, it would hear the case post-May 5 and listed the matter for hearing on the next day.
The court was hearing a plea filed by Umar Khalid challenging a lower court order denying him bail in the case. Upon being informed by the counsel for Sharjeel Imam that his client’s appeal was also related to the same issue and was listed for hearing by the court today, the bench said it would take up the bail pleas of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam together on May 6.
Umar Khalid filed an appeal in the Delhi High Court after being denied bail by the Karkardooma court on March 24. Rejecting bail to Khalid, Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat held that he was found to be part of the “WhatsApp groups created for specific objects” and that his “acts or presence throughout the period beginning from the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Bill in December 2019 till the riots of February 2020 riots had to be read in a piecemeal manner”.
Khalid was arrested by Delhi Police in connection with the Delhi riots case on September 13, 2020, and charge-sheeted on November 22 under various sections of the UAPA and the Indian Penal Code.
Sharjeel Imam, on the other hand, has contended in his appeal that in the absence of any admissible material, the trial court wrongly found him to be a part of the conspiracy to cause riots. He added that there is no prima facie case against him for the commission of any ‘terrorist act’ under the UAPA. Imam is accused of making inflammatory speeches against the government on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and National Register of Citizens (NRC), particularly at Jamia Milia Islamia University in December 2019.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court posted petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the sedition law for final hearing on May 5. The matter is being heard by an SC bench comprising Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Hima Kohli.