Sharjeel Imam granted bail

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday granted bail to Sharjeel Imam in con nection with a 2020 com munal riots which involves allegations of sedition and unlawful activities. Imam challenged a trial court or der that denied him bail, despite him having served more than half of the maxi mum sentence possible in case of a conviction. “The appeal is allowed,” stated a division bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain, following arguments from Imam’s counsel and the Delhi Po lice. As per the prosecution, Imam allegedly threatened to cut off Assam and the rest of the North East from the country during speech es at Jamia Millia Islamia on December 13, 2019 and Aligarh Muslim University on December 16, 2019, re spectively. Imam was charged in a case filed by the Delhi Police’s Special Branch, which was initially registered for sedi tion and later invoked Section 13 of the UAPA. He has been in custody since January 28, 2020, in connection with the matter. Imam had asserted before the trial court that he has been in custody for the past four years, and the maximum sentence for the offense under section 13 (punishment for unlawful activities) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is 7 years, if convicted. Accord ing to Section 436-A CrPC, a person can be released from custody if they have served more than half of the maxi mum sentence prescribed for the offense. Despite this, the trial court, in its decision on February 17, declined to grant him bail, stating that the accused’s detention could be prolonged for an additional period in “excep tional circumstances” after hearing the prosecution’s arguments. Imam is impli cated in several cases stem ming from the communal riots of 2020, including the case related to an alleged broader conspiracy behind the violence.