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A Delhi Court today heard the bail application of Ishrat Jahan in the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). The matter was being heard before the bench of ASJ Amitabh Rawat. 

Relying on a judgement of the Guwahati High Court and the Supreme Court, Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad argued that the bail application was not filed under the proper provision of law, saying that, "Ishrat Jahan’s bail application under Section 439 CrPC was not maintainable, it should have been filed under Section 437 CrPC.

Prasad further said that according to the provisions of CrPC, an application cannot be amended and hence Ishrat Jahan had no other option but to withdraw and file a fresh application under the correct provision of law.

Adv. Pradeep Teotia, however, argued that the prosecution did not raise the question of maintainability in the last 6 months and raising an objection at this juncture was unjustified both for Ishrat Jahan who is languishing in jail and for Teotia himself who had been preparing for the case for the past 6 months.

Teotia further argued that the issue was a trivial one and could be rectified on oral submissions as well. He said that courts have admitted bail on oral mentioning and whether the application is filed under section 437 CrpC or S439 CrPC, the arguments would remain the same. Prasad however said that if bail was granted on an application under Section 439 CrPC, the same would be illegal as the case falls under the UAPA.

Having heard both the parties, Court adjourned the matter for next hearing on Sep 1. The court said it will decide the application after perusing the list of judgements relied on by Prasad.

Earlier the Court had granted interim bail of 10 days to Ishrat Jahan to get married in June last year.

Besides Ishrat Jahan, several others including Umar Khalid, Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, Safoora Zargar,  Asif Iqbal Tanha and former Aam Aadmi Party Councillor Tahir Hussain, have also been booked under the UAPA in the Delhi Riots larger conspiracy case.

Case Title: Ishrat Jahan vs State
Edited by Shreya Agarwal