The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued a notice to Delhi Police on the bail application filed by JNU student Sharjeel Imam in the case registered against him by the New Friends Colony police station in connection with the violence that broke out in Jamia Nagar on December 15 in 2019.
The matter has been poster for further hearing on February 11, next year.
Imam has been accused of delivering provocative speeches about the Citizenship Amendment Bill and stands chargesheeted under various provisions of IPC including 124A, Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and Arms Act. The lower court rejected his bail plea in October, saying that fundamental right of ‘freedom of speech and expression’ cannot be exercised at the cost of communal peace and harmony of the society.
On December 15, 2019, a mob of over 3,000 people attacked police and torched several vehicles in Jamia Nagar during a demonstration against the Citizenship Amendment Bill. The prosecution had claimed the mob was instigated by Imam’s speeches against CAA-NRC outside Jamia Millia Islamia.
Last month, a Delhi court dismissed Imam’s bail plea, but noted in its order that the evidence that rioters were incited by his speech and indulged in acts of rioting “is scanty and sketchy”. It said the prosecution version can’t be built on “imaginative thinking”, and once this is removed, it “appears to be crumbling like a house of cards”.
Nevertheless, the court denied him bail, stating that “the issue whether the said speech would fall within the ambit of section 124A IPC or not, requires a deeper analysis at an appropriate stage.”
This story first appeared on indianexpress.com
