'Sharjeel arrested before riots, can't have endless conspiracy'
New Delhi: Noting that JNU student leader Sharjeel Imam was arrested at least one month before the north-east Delhi riots in February 2020, his counsel on Thursday argued for his bail in the UAPA case related to the riots, also adding that "we cannot afford to have a system where conspiracies are endless and rendered in perpetuity".
The court of Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat is currently hearing the bail pleas of several accused in the "main conspiracy" case related to the riots. On Thursday, the court reserved the order on Sharjeel's bail plea in the case.
Advocate Tanvir Ahmed Mir, for Sharjeel, argued on Thursday that his client had already been arrested in another case of alleged rioting almost a month before the actual riots of February 2020 and that he cannot be accused of conspiracy after having been arrested.
"Sharjeel Imam, the moment he is arrested, the case against him for conspiracy, if any, is over. Post arrest of Sharjeel Imam nothing can be attached to him for conspiracy. This argument is good for bail and also for charge," he argued.
In addition to posing questions to the court as to whether a person can be charged for conspiracy after being arrested in another matter, Advocate Mir also asked whether there was any evidence showing that his client had conspired to cause murders during the February riots.
"Can an agreement for chakka jam be equivalent to riot? Since when? Are those lines going to blur? If I conspired for a protest, then by no stretch of imagination it can be said that I conspired for a murder assault," Mir said, adding, "Where are those overt acts attributed to me, post my arrest? Because if overt act is my speech then post my arrest, speeches are over. What if the riots were to take place three years down the line. How would the court then react to such a situation?" — thereby asking if the conspiracy charge, in this case, is sustainable at all.
Opposing the bail plea, Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad pointed towards events in December 2019 to allege that Sharjeel was purportedly part of the conspiracy from before his arrest in January 2020. The prosecution went on to equate the alleged role of the accused to that of team members in a cricket team. SPP Prasad said, "In the sequence of openers, assuming somebody one wicket is lost, that doesn't mean the intent to win game is lost. Merely because Imam is removed from the team by event of his arrest in (FIR) 22/2020, doesn't mean entire conspiracy is
abandoned."
The prosecution insisted that when they have found specific instances of Sharjeel's alleged involvement in the larger conspiracy, then he can be charged for the same and also the speeches.
The court is currently hearing bail pleas of Sharjeel, Umar Khalid, Shifa Ur Rahman, Meeran Haider and some other accused in the UAPA case. So far, Safoora Zargar, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita — all student leaders — have been granted bail in the case.
