Delhi Riots Larger Conspiracy Case 2020: Delhi High Court Denies Bail To Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid, Other Accused

New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Tuesday denied bail to all the nine accused including Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid, Athar Khan, Abdul Khalid Saifi, Mohd. Saleem Khan, Shifa Ur Rehman, Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima, Shadab Ahmed in connection with the Delhi riots larger Conspiracy case of 2020.

The High Court had reserved its order on July 9 after hearing the arguments of counsel for the accused persons and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and special public prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad.

The division bench comprising Justice Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur pronounced the order on Tuesday.

While opposing the bail pleas on July 9, the Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta had submitted that in UAPA cases related to National security, bail cannot be granted on the ground of delay in trial.

On the other hand, the counsel for the accused had earlier argued that there was a long delay in the trial and even the charges had not been framed, and the matter was at the stage of arguments on charges.

SG Tushar Mehta, during his submissions, referred to an accused who had said that they are ready for riots, if they have to, to protest against CAA and NRC.

He had also referred to the portion of the speech where Sharjeel Imam had said that they can separate the chicken neck (North East) from the rest of India forever or at least for a month.

It was also submitted that Sharjeel Imam, in his speech, had allegedly said that nothing would happen unless 100-200 people died.

It was also stated that riots took place as per a conspiracy and were covered by the media.

SG Mehta further argued that all the accused are connected. SG also referred to a statement of protected witnesses, and one of the witnesses stated that there was a plan to dislocate or shut down the CCTV. The report related to this fact is enclosed in the charge sheet.

Mehta had said that these riots were financed by 5 accused, namely Tahir Hussain, Ishrat Jahan, Abdul Khalid Saifi, Shifa ur Rehman and Meeran Haider.

He had also submitted that Tahir Husain converted his white money into black money to finance the riots. It was also submitted that the accused persons were not onto protest, they were planning something else.

SG Mehta had also mentioned that the Delhi High Court denied bail to Umar Khalid and it had referred that it was a terrorist act.

The High Court is dealing with bail pleas of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Athar Khan, Abdul Khalid Saifi, Mohd. Saleem Khan, Shifa Ur Rehman, Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima and Shadab Ahsmed. They had challenged the trial court orders dismissing their bail, citing the embargo under UAPA.

Devangana Kalita, Natasha Narwal, and Asif Iqbal Tanha were granted regular bail by the Delhi High Court on June 15, 2021, after their appeals against the trial court order were allowed. The accused, Ishrat Jahan, was granted bail by the trial court.

This case pertains to the allegations of a larger Conspiracy for riots hatched by the accused persons.

In this case, 18 accused have been charged under UAPA, and 2 accused are absconding.

As per the Delhi police, 53 persons died and hundreds were injured in the North East Delhi Riots in February 2020. More than 700 FIRs were registered against several accused persons in different police stations of North East Delhi and other areas.

Delhi police have filed a charge sheet and supplementary charge sheets in a larger conspiracy case. This case is at the stage of arguments on charges.

(With inputs from ANI)

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