Order on bail pleas of Umar, Sharjeel, Saleem deferred

New Delhi: Even as a local court here granted bail to former Congress Councillor Ishrat Jahan in the UAPA case related to the "main conspiracy" behind the Delhi riots in February 2020, the court went on to once again defer the pronouncement of orders on the bail pleas of former JNU student leader Umar Khalid, JNU student activist Sharjeel Imam and one Saleem Khan, also accused in the same case.

The court of Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat is hearing the bail pleas of several accused in the case, being investigated by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police.

On Monday, the court said it was deferring the order on Sharjeel and Saleem's bail pleas to March 22 and the order of Umar's bail plea to March 21 for pronouncement. Meanwhile, Khalid Saifi, another activist arrested in the case, has been awaiting the order on his bail plea for months now.

Over 15 activists, student leaders and opposition politicians are accused in the case under stringent sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, which has largely stood in their way of securing bail so far. However, including Ishrat now, six accused in the case have been granted bail in the case so far.

The rest include Jamia student Safoora Zargar, Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal from JNU, Asif Iqbal Tanha from Jamia and one SIM card seller Faizan Khan. Except for Ishrat, all the other five accused had to escalate their bail pleas to the Delhi High Court, which found enough grounds to grant bail.

In scathing orders, the Delhi High Court had granted bail to Asif, Devangana and Natasha and held that the police had not been able to show how them organising protests or planning for the same could be construed as acts of terror. It had gone on to question whether violent protests can be treated under anti-terror laws as well.

However, the Supreme Court had in an unprecedented order, directed that this high court judgement cannot be cited as precedent, which has also been a roadblock in arguing the bail of other accused in the case.

In addition, the nature of the allegations in the case by the Special Cell has led to defence counsel of the accused to argue on the veracity of evidence produced and witness statements cited.

In Umar's case, the bail hearing has been going on for over three months now and the same is true for many like Khalid Saifi, Shifa-Ur-Rehman and several others.