It is a matter of deep regret that the Delhi High Court on September 4, 2024 rejected a plea that had been filed by 2020 Delhi riots accused, JNU scholar and student activist Sharjeel Imam who was seeking early hearing of his bail application in connection with the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case which was scheduled to be heard on October 7. It is worth noting that the Division Bench of Delhi High Court headed by Hon’ble Mr Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and also comprising Hon’ble Mr Justice Girish Kathpalia took the stand that since the matter was already listed for hearing on October 7 which they themselves listed, there was no ground to advance the date. It must be disclosed here that the prosecution had named him as the main conspirator behind the North-East Delhi riots that took place on February 2020 which had left 53 people dead and over 700 injured. It would be worthwhile to mention that this same Division Bench had on August 29 posted the bail pleas of nine accused in the larger conspiracy case of the northeast Delhi riots including former JNU student Umar Khalid and Imam for October 7.

It must be also informed here for my esteemed readers exclusive indulgence that Sharjeel Imam who was arrested in January 2020 was at that point of time pursuing his final year of PhD in modern history from JNU and has now been incarcerated for more than four years. He also argued most fervently that being a research scholar who has spent his entire life seeking academic pursuits, he is unable to pursue his education and graduate with a doctorate degree. It must be also laid bare here that Sharjeel Imam along with other accused are facing allegations of pre-planned conspiracy to allegedly cause riots in northeast Delhi between February 23, 2020, and February 25, 2020, with offences lodged under the Indian Penal Code, Prevention of Damage to Public Property (PDPP) Act, Arms Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 (UAPA).

There can be just no gainsaying that as long as the charges are not proved in court, the accused cannot be judged guilty by media trial and has every right to get bail. It cannot be lost sight of that the Apex Court in various judicial pronouncements has time and again reiterated the famous maxim that:
Bail is the rule and jail is the exception. It must be mentioned here that Sharjeel Imam was arrested by the Delhi Police in 2020. He has been in judicial custody in this high profile case since January 28, 2020. He stated that his bail plea has been pending for the last 28 months.

It must be mentioned here that Sharjeel Imam was arrested by the Delhi Police in 2020 and charged with the offence of sedition by the Delhi Police in 2020 for allegedly making inflammatory speeches at Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia that pertained to the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA). He was later also charged with Section 13 that pertains to punishment for unlawful activities under the stringent provisions of the most draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 that was invoked against him under which the maximum punishment that has been prescribed is seven years. It must be revealed here that Sharjeel Imam had moved the Court for early hearing of his bail plea stating clearly that it has been pending since April 2022.

It is really most astonishing to learn as pointed out by Sharjeel Imam himself that the petition was listed for hearing more than 60 times before seven different Benches of the High Court. This is truly incomprehensible. It is for the Delhi High Court to come clean as to why so many times his bail plea was not heard which is most baffling indeed!

With a very heavy heart, Sharjeel Imam lamented shelling out his innermost feelings saying most unequivocally stating that:
It is most humbly stated that the present Appeal has been pending adjudication before this Hon’ble Court since 29.04.2022, on which date, the Hon’ble Court was pleased to issue notice to the Respondent. It is pertinent to mention here that since the issuance of notice, the present Appeal has been listed for hearing at least 62 times before 7 different Division Benches of this Hon’ble Court, however, on account of frequent changes in the composition of benches owing to roster change, recusal and transfer of Hon’ble Judges, the hearing in the matter never concluded and thereby having led to a fresh cycle of hearing beginning every such time. This is really most telling and a sad commentary on the existing deplorable state of affairs even in the Delhi High Court, what to speak about the lower courts where the conditions are much more worse! This has to change now if the faith of the people in judiciary has to be retained!

Adding more to what is stated above, Sharjeel Imam further also added that there is no likelihood of the trial concluding anytime soon since the police is yet to conclude its probe and more than 1000 witnesses along with lakh of pages of documents are to be examined by the Court. There is definitely a lot of merit in what Sharjeel Imam has pointed out. There is no reason why an accused who has still not been heard should be kept languishing in jail for an inordinately long period of time!

The billion dollar question to ask here is: What if he ultimately is proved innocent? Who will return his days which he had to spend in jail for no fault of his? We have seen in so many cases that an undertrial accused spends more time in jail than if he had actually committed the offence due to the trial not being conducted in time! This definitely is most disgusting and cannot be ever justified under any circumstances!

While pleading for the early hearing of the case, it was contended by the lawyers named Talib Mustafa and so also Ahmad Ibrahim before the Division Bench of the Delhi High Court on behalf of Sharjeel Imam that:
It is pertinent to mention that the trial in the present matter has been pending before the Ld. Special Court since 2020, however, the investigation by the Prosecuting agency is still ongoing and charges have not yet been framed so far. Further, the Prosecution seeks to examine more than 1,000 witnesses in the matter and the documents being relied upon run into lakhs of pages. Needless to say, the trial in the present case shall be protracted and will take a long time to even commence, much less conclude.

To recapitulate, it must be definitely also recalled here that the advocates Talib Mustafa and Ahmad Ibrahim who had appeared on behalf of Sharjeel Imam had moved a plea for the early/urgent hearing of Criminal Appeal seeking the setting aside of the order of 11.04.2022 that was passed by Karkardooma Court by which the regular bail application of the Appellant was dismissed. It was also pointed out by the lawyers of Sharjeel Imam that by the provisions of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act, the appeals that had been preferred under Section 21 of the NIA Act shall as far as possible be disposed of within 3 months from the date of admission of the appeal. But in Sharjeel case, the early hearing has been pending for an inordinately long period of time which definitely cannot be ever justified on one pretext or the other!

It is definitely a matter of deep regret that the Delhi High Court did not appear to be convinced by the arguments that were made by him and his lawyers. We thus see that the Division Bench of Delhi High Court headed by Hon’ble Mr Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and also comprising of Hon’ble Mr Justice Girish Kathpalia thus rejected the plea that was made by Sharjeel Imam. He will thus have to wait further till October 7 for just his case to be heard on merits.

In conclusion, it is high time and now the Courts must be most firm in granting bail to the accused with certain conditions so that the accused does not have to spend a huge time in jail without even charges being framed against him and without his being even heard in any competent court which is nothing but the worst travesty of justice which jeopardizes the whole life of the accused without even being heard which definitely is most unfortunate cannot be ever justified under any circumstances. It also merits no reiteration that the brazen media trial that we see these days so galore in so many high profile cases must stop immediately so that the concerned accused is not prematurely convicted by media trial without any evidence but by court trial! No denying it!

Sanjeev Sirohi, Advocate,
s/o Col (Retd) BPS Sirohi, A 82, Defence Enclave,
Sardhana Road, Kankerkhera, Meerut - 250001, Uttar Pradesh