A Delhi court will pronounce the order on Sharjeel Imam’s interim bail today in the sedition case. The order was reserved on June 6 after he moved to the trial court for interim bail in view of the recent directions of the Supreme court on sedition law. The order will be pronounced by Additional Sessions Judge Amitab Rawat.
On May 30, the court issued a notice to Delhi Police on the interim bail application.
Imam had moved to the lower court on May 27 as his counsel withdrew the application from the Delhi High Court after the prosecution raised the issue of maintainability. The HC asked Imam to approach the lower court for bail.
According to a report by news agency ANI, the bail application was moved by Talib Hussain, Ahmed Ibrahim, and Kartik Venu which says that as per the recent direction of the SC, Imam should be granted bail.
Advocate Talib Hussain argued that in the light of direction given by the Supreme court on sedition law, the trial should be stayed and Sharjeel Imam should be released on interim bail.
However, the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) argued that even though the SC has put a stay on cases related to the sedition law, in Sharjeel Imam’s case, the sections under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) have been invoked which cannot be ignored. Under such circumstances, Sharjeel Imam should not be granted bail, the SPP argued.
The Supreme Court had directed to keep all pending appeals and proceedings with the respect to the charge framed under section 124A (Sedition) of the Indian Penal Code in abeyance.
The direction came in the context of an ongoing hearing on the validity of the sedition law of the Indian Penal Code.
Sharjeel Imam was arrested by the Delhi Police for alleged inflammatory speeches made in different parts of the country during the Anti-CAA/NRC protests in 2019-2020.