Delhi court rejects bail plea of Sharjeel Imam in sedition case

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Saturday denied statutory bail to Sharjeel Imam in a sedition case filed against him for allegedly giving inflammatory speeches at various places in Delhi, including at Delhi’s Jamia area and Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), during the anti-CAA protests in 2019-2020.

Imam had moved the court under section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), claiming that he had undergone one-half of the maximum period of imprisonment for the offences alleged against him and was entitled to bail.

Section 436A of CrPC describes the maximum period for which an undertrial prisoner can be detained. According to the section, a person accused of an offence shall be granted bail by the court if he has undergone half of the maximum period of imprisonment specified for the offence.

Advocate Talib Mustafa, appearing for Imam, argued that during the trial, the constitutional validity of section 124A was challenged before the Supreme Court and considering the directions passed by the Supreme Court on May 11, 2022.

It was further argued that the only sections remaining against Imam are sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, etc.), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 505 (statement conducing public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code which entitle maximum imprisonment of three years and section 13 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in which the maximum imprisonment is of seven years.

Mustafa submitted that since his arrest in January 2020, Imam has been in police custody and has spent four years in prison as an under-trial prisoner. It was also argued that there was no delay in the trial of the case because of him.

The special public prosecutor opposed the bail plea arguing that the punishment for the offences is calculated consecutively and not concurrently. He also submitted that bail under section 436A is not mandatory, and the gravity of the offence must be considered.

Additional sessions judge (ASJ) Sameer Bajpai after hearing the submissions of both parties dismissed the bail application.

Imam was arrested in the case on January 28, 2020. He was initially booked in this case for sedition and other related offences by the Delhi police crime branch under FIR (first information report) 20 of 2022.

Later, section 13 of the UAPA was also invoked against him.

On March 15, 2022, the court framed charges against him under sections 124A, 153A, 153B, 505 of the IPC and section 13 of UAPA.

In July 2022, the trial court rejected his first bail application in this case.