Sedition law stay: Delhi HC to hear bail plea of Sharjeel Imam on May 26

The Delhi High Court will hear on May 26, the bail plea moved by JNU scholar-activist Sharjeel Imam, who has approached the Court for relief following the historic Supreme Court verdict which put on hold the colonial-era penal provision of sedition.

He was seeking an interim bail in the alleged inflammatory speeches delivered by him at Aligarh Muslim University and in the Jamia area of Delhi during the anti-CAA agitation in 2019 and 2020.

His application seeking interim bail in the already pending plea, was posted for May 26 (Thursday) as the bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Rajnish Bhatnagar did not assemble on Tuesday.

In the fresh bail application, he said that since the top court has put sedition (Section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code) in abeyance, his case has improved for the grant of bail.

"The appellant has been incarcerated for nearly 28 months since January 28, 2020 whereas the maximum punishment for the offences -- not including 124-A IPC-- are punishable up to a maximum of 7 years of imprisonment," the plea read.

JNU scholars and activists Imam, and Umar Khalid are among the nearly a dozen people involved in the alleged larger conspiracy case linked with the Delhi riots 2020, as per the Delhi Police.

Imam and Khalid are facing charges in connection with the inflammatory speeches which are allegedly fuelled, as per the police. The riots broke out in the national capital in February 2020 as clashes between the anti-CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) and pro-CAA protesters took a violent turn.

The mayhem, which coincided with the then US President Donald Trump's maiden trip to India, saw more than 50 people lose their lives and over 700 were injured.