The Delhi High Court on Monday decided to hear several bail pleas in a larger conspiracy case lodged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) related to North East Delhi riots. The special bench said that it will hear the matters daily post-lunch from next week.
The special bench on 15 October dismissed the appeal of Umar Khalid against the trial court order denying bail to him. A special bench comprising Justices Siddharth Mridul and Rajanish Bhatnagar decided to hear bail pleas of the accused in a larger conspiracy related to the North East Delhi riots of 2020.
The bench said that it will hear Abdul Khalid Saifi’s bail plea on Monday and Friday. The Bench will hear the matters every day post-lunch from next week.
The High Court on Friday adjourned the appeals challenging the bail denial in the larger conspiracy case. The appeals have been filed by Abdul Khalid Saifi, Meeran Haider, Gulfisa Fatima, Saleem Khan, Shifa Ur Rehman and Sharjeel Imam. Umar Khalid’s appeal has been rejected. One appeal has been preferred by the State against the order granting bail to Ishrat Jahan. Senior advocate Rebecca John submitted that there were WhatsApp groups. In the CAB team, there was an Indian pledge and that was not seditious at all. There was not a call for a ‘Chakka Jaam’. She also argued that the trial court order suffers infirmity as it fails to appreciate the material facts.
Now the matter is likely to be heard on Friday. The bench on Friday had said that they will take a call that they will hear all appeals. As this would take a lot of time to conclude all these. The bench was dealing with the appeal filed by Abdul Khalid Saifi against the order of the Karkardooma Court refusing him bail. Justice Mridul said, “We never heard any of these appeals earlier. This is a special bench and we never heard any of these. We can’t conclude these appeals by hearing them only on Friday post lunch. We will take a call whether these appeals would be heard by this special bench. In order to conclude the hearing will have to devote some time every day. We will take a call on this.”
Justice Mridul was informed that the appeal filed by Sharjeel Imam is also pending before the court. He said that they never heard the appeal on behalf of Sharjeel Imam.