The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked Sharjeel Imam to approach the lower court for bail in the sedition case registered against him for his allegedly provocative speeches against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student was slapped with UAPA for allegedly giving inflammatory speeches at Delhi’s Jamia area and Aligarh Muslim University in UP. He was subsequently charged with sedition by a Delhi court.
Imam had again applied for bail in the High Court following the Supreme Court’s landmark order to give interim bail to the ones already in jail under sedition charges. The SC, in its orders, further put a stay on any fresh arrests and refrained any state authorities from filing cases under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code till the time the Centre re-examines the law.
Raising an objection to Imam’s bail plea before the division bench of Justices Mukta Gupta and Mini Pushkarna, special public prosecutor Amit Prasad pointed out that under the NIA Act, the bail plea has to first go through a special court. Imam’s counsel Tanveer Ahmad Mir sought the court’s permission to withdraw the application and move a trial court for bail. The division bench allowed Imam the liberty to approach the lower court.
After the top court’s order on sedition law, the application filed by Imam on May 12 stated that the case against him has subsequently weakened, thus paving ground for his release.
“In view of the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s directions, the hindrance raised by the Ld. Special Court in the impugned order stands obviated, and observations surrounding the offence under section 124-A IPC cannot be taken into consideration in the proceedings against the Appellant pending the final outcome of the Constitutional challenges to the section,” the application stated.
The appeal for Imam’s regular bail will be heard before the Delhi High Court on August 26.