Supreme Court rejects Article 32 bail plea by Delhi Riots accused Gulfisha Fatima

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a bail plea filed by Gulfisha Fatima, one of the accused in the Delhi Riots conspiracy case. [Gulfisha Fatima v State (Govt of NCT of Delhi)]..However, a Bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma asked the Delhi High Court to hear Fatima's pending bail plea on the next date of hearing unless there are extraordinary circumstances warranting adjournment of the matter."We are not inclined to entertain the present plea. We request the High Court to take up the bail plea on next date as it is pointed out that she is incarcerated for four years. High Court to hear the bail plea on next date specified unless there are extraordinary circumstances," the top court said..Fatima, an MBA graduate, was arrested by Delhi Police on April 11, 2020 and later charge-sheeted along with former JNU student Umar Khalid, United Against Hate activist Khalid Saifi, Congress ex-councillor Ishrat Jahan, AAP ex-councillor Tahir Hussain, RJD youth wing’s Meeran Haider, Pinjra Tod activists Gulfisha Fatima, Safoora Zargar, Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, and Tasleem Ahmed, besides others.She has been charged with several provisions of the Indian Penal Code as well as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).Her bail plea was rejected by Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat on March 17, 2022. The judge noted that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that the accusations against her were prima facie true.She then approached the Delhi High Court..The Delhi High Court in May 2022 issued notice to the Delhi government on the appeal filed by Fatima challenging denial of bail. However, the same has not been decided since. Fatima then moved the Supreme Court by way of a writ petition under Article 32 filed through advocate Maulshree Pathak..Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Fatima, said that the High Court is yet to decide the bail plea and trial has also not progressed."When is it next listed," Justice Trivedi asked. "I want bail my lords. Judgment of this court under UAPA says .. "We will request High Court to hear. You can mention to Chief Justice," Justice Trivedi said."No question of trial beginning. It keeps getting adjourned. Why should lordships not interfere when High Courts do this," Sibal persisted.However, Justice Trivedi asked why the petitioner has approached the top court by way of Article 32. .It then proceeded to dismiss the plea while asking the High Court to hear the matter without fail..The same Bench had recently dismissed a similar petition by another accused, Sharjeel Imam, and had asked the Delhi High Court to consider Imam's request to expeditiously decide his long-pending bail plea.At least two accused in Delhi riots cases had withdrawn their bail pleas before the Bench. These include former JNU student Umar Khalid and one Salim Malik..A Delhi Court, however, recently warned some accused in the Delhi riots conspiracy case, including Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Tahir Hussain, Asif Iqbal and Ishrat Jahan, not to delay the trial by seeking unnecessary adjournments.