The Delhi High Court on Thursday heard arguments on the bail plea of Sharjeel Imam, an accused in the alleged larger conspiracy behind the 2020 Delhi riots. His counsel argued that Sharjeel Imam never incited people to violence nor was he involved in any violence or overt acts.
A division bench of justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur, after hearing the arguments, listed the matter for further submissions by the Delhi Police counsel on December 20. The High Court has also scheduled arguments on the merits of Shadab Ahmed’s case for January 14, 2025.
Sharjeel Imam’s counsel, Advocates Talib Mustafa and Ahmad Ibrahim, concluded their arguments while seeking bail on the grounds of parity with other accused individuals. It was argued that Sharjeel never encouraged violence and only called for ‘Chakka Jaam’ (roadblock) against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) during his speeches.
Advocate Talib Mustafa further contended that Sharjeel Imam consistently advocated for peaceful protests against the CAA and warned that political parties might incite violence during such protests. The counsel highlighted that the basis of Imam’s indictment is a speech delivered at Jamia Millia Islamia on December 13, 2019, which led to five cases being registered against him for speeches made in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Bihar in 2019 and 2020.
The counsel argued that the Delhi Police Crime Branch had registered a case in 2020 for the December 2019 speech, and Sharjeel Imam had already been granted bail in that case. The police investigation, according to the defense, relied heavily on chats recovered by the crime branch related to the Jamia speech case.
Sharjeel Imam was arrested in August 2020 while already in custody for a crime branch case following his earlier arrest on January 28. His counsel further argued that he has been in custody for more than four years.
