Read Time: 04 minutes

The Delhi High Court today issued notice in an appeal by Sharjeel Imam against the rejection of bail in a Delhi riots' case wherein Imam faces charges under Sections 124A, 153A, 153B, 505 of IPC and Section 13 of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Notice was issued by a division bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anoop Kumar Mendiratta which posted the matter for further hearing on March 24.

The case arose out of FIR No. 22/2020 which was registered at PS Crime Branch, New Delhi, simultaneously with 4 other FIRs registered across multiple states for the same speeches attributed to Imam.

Imam was arrested on January 28 from his hometown Jehanabad, Bihar in this case and produced before a Delhi Court.

In July 2020 the investigating agency submitted the Final Report/ chargesheet against Imam for the mentioned offences, following which in December a Special Court took cognizance of the speeches/ offences.

The Special Court thereafter, vide it's order dated January 24, 2022 ordered for framing of charges against under Sections 124A, 153A, 153B, 505 of IPC and Section 13 of UAPA. 

On the same day, after relying upon the order framing charges, the Special Court dismissed Imam's bail application preferred under Section 439 of CrPC. Challenging this Imam moved Court in the present appeal.

Imam states in his appeal that there has been a concerted effort to inundate him with criminal cases regarding the same speeches.

Imam has pointed out that he was arrested from his hometown of Jehanabad, Bihar in this case on January 28, 2020 and was produced before the Patiala House Courts, New Delhi the next day, following which he was remanded to police custody 
for 5 days. The remand was further extended by 3 days on February 3, 2020 and since then, he has remained in judicial custody in the present case. 

He also submitted that the FIR was originally only registered under Sections 153A, 153B, 124A and 505 IPC but on the 88th day of investigation the prosecution added Section 13 of UAPA and sought to extend 
the custody.

Cause Title: Sharjeel Imam vs The State of NCT of Delhi