Delhi High Court denies early hearing of Sharjeel Imam bail plea

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday rejected a plea filed by activist Sharjeel Imam seeking early hearing of his bail application in connection with the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case..A Division Bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Girish Kathpalia said that the case will be heard on October 7, the date already fixed by the Court.Imam moved the Court for early hearing of his bail plea stating that it has been pending since April 2022. The petition was listed for hearing more than 60 times before seven different benches, he said. "It is most humbly stated that the present Appeal has been pending adjudication before this Hon’ble Court since 29.04.2022, on which date, the Hon’ble Court was pleased to issue notice to the Respondent. It is pertinent tomention here that since the issuance of notice, the present Appeal has been listed for hearing at least 62 times before 7 different division benches of this Hon’ble Court, however, on account of frequent changes in the composition of benches owing to roster change, recusal and transfer of Hon’ble Judges, the hearing in the matter never concluded and thereby having led to a fresh cycle of hearing beginning every such time," Imam said. He added that there is no likelihood of the trial concluding anytime soon since the police is yet to conclude its probe and more than 1,000 witnesses along with lakh of pages of documents are to be examined by the Court. "It is pertinent to mention that the trial in the present matter has been pending before the Ld. Special Court since 2020, however, the investigation by the Prosecuting agency is still ongoing and charges have not yet been framed so far. Further, the Prosecution seeks to examine more than 1,000 witnesses in the matter and the documents being relied upon run into lakhs of pages. Needless to say, the trial in the present case shall be protracted and will take a long time to even commence, much less conclude," he contended. However, the Court rejected his plea. .Sharjeel Imam was arrested by the Delhi Police in the year 2020 under the stringent provisions of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).The prosecution has named him as the main conspirator behind the North-east Delhi riots of February 2020. .Advocates Talib Mustafa and Ahmad Ibrahim appeared for Sharjeel Imam.