Delhi court again lists Sharjeel Imam’s bail plea for arguments afresh in sedition case

New Delhi: Delhi’s Karkardooma Court on Monday listed Sharjeel Imam’s bail plea for hearing arguments afresh in a sedition case against him.

Sharjeel sought bail on the grounds of the period undergone in the sedition case. He has been in custody since January 2020.

He is also accused in the larger conspiracy of the Delhi riots case.

Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpayee listed the matter and listed the bail plea for arguments afresh as of February 7, 2024. He received the file from the predecessor judge, Amitabh Rawat, now transferred to Rouse Avenue court, who reserved the order. On December 9, 2023, Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Amitabh Rawat asked the Delhi Police to file a clarification.

Special public prosecutor Amit Prasad had submitted that there is some ambiguity on the provision mentioned by the defence counsel on the point that whether the accused under UAPA with multiple offences and undergone half of the sentence under UAPA is entitled to be released on bail under section 436A Cr.pc. He also submitted that the clarification will take two weeks time.

Advocate Talib Mustafa opposed the submissions made by the SPP for Delhi Police. He argued that what the SPP is submitting is relation to post-conviction cases. Whereas, Sharjeel is an undertrial. The submissions don’t apply to him, the counsel said. He also argued that the bail order is reserved for the last two months. I am not going to wait anymore, he said. Earlier, the court, on September 11, 2023, reserved an order on the plea of Sharjeel Imam seeking statutory bail on the grounds of the period already undergone in the sedition case. He has been in custody since January 28, 2020.

It had been argued by his counsel that Sharjeel Imam had already undergone a period of more than three and a half years. This is more than one-half of the maximum sentence in this case.

Sharjeel Imam’s counsel advocate, Talib Mustafa, had argued that the accused has undergone half of the maximum sentence, therefore he is entitled to statutory bail under section 436 A Cr.pc.

“He has undergone the maximum sentence even without a trial. Under section 13 UAPA has a maximum sentence of seven years. He has undergone three and half years,” the counsel argued. On the other hand, Delhi police said that there there are multiple offences, not only one offence. Section 436 A Crpc talks about only ‘an offence’.

Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad submitted that a concurrent sentence is an exception whereas a consecutive sentence is a rule. In this way the maximum sentence he can be awarded is 16 years, the punishment to which is restricted to 14 years. (IANS)

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