Delhi Riots Case 2020: Sharjeel Imam's plea for early hearing of bail dismissed

The Delhi High Court HC on Wednesday dismissed 2020 riots accused Sharjeel Imams request seeking an early hearing on his bail petition listed on October 7 Imam who is an accused in the larger conspiracy of Delhi Riots is in custody since January 28 2020 ANI reportedHe said that he had challenged the trial court order dismissing his bail plea and the appeal against it is pending for the past 28 monthsHowever his plea was dismissed by HCs division bench headed by Justice Suresh Kumar Kait who said that the matter is listed on October 7 at a fixed time and that there is no need for preponement of the hearingAdvocates Talib Mustafa and Ahmad Ibrahim moved a plea on behalf of Imam for an earlyurgent hearing of Criminal Appeal seeking that the order passed by the Karkardooma Court on April 11 2022 be set asideThe plea stated that the present appeal was last listed for final hearing on August 29 However HC adjourned the matter on that day and listed it for final hearing on October 7It is stated that the provisions of the National Investigation Agency NIA Act that appeals preferred under section 21 shall as far as possible be disposed of within a period of three months from the date of admission of the appeal His petition also stated that the present appeal has been pending adjudication before HC since August 29 It is mentioned that as the issuance of notice the present appeal has been listed for hearing at least 62 times before seven different division benchesOn account of frequent changes in the composition of benches owing to roster change recusal and transfer of judges the hearing in the matter never concluded thereby having led to a fresh cycle of hearing beginning every such time the plea further stated According to his petition the last substantial hearing in the present appeal took place before the division bench comprising Justices Kait and Manoj JainThe appellant concluded his arguments before the said bench on March 19 and the arguments on behalf of the respondent began on the same date However owing to paucity of time the same could not be concluded The court listed the present appeal to be listed for further arguments on different datesHowever before the arguments of the respondent could conclude the present appeal was listed before another division bench owing to change in the roster the plea statedIt is submitted that the Supreme Court in several judgments held that bail applications ought to be decided expeditiously and preferably within twofour weeks and several guidelinesdirections have also been repeatedly issued to all HCs and District Courts to scrupulously follow the timeline so indicateThe plea also mentioned that the trial in the present matter has been pending before the Special Court since 2020 However the investigation by the prosecuting agency is still ongoing and charges have not yet been framed so far it addedIt is said The prosecution seeks to examine more than 1000 witnesses in the matter and the documents being relied upon run into lakhs of pagesIt is also stated that on account of Imams continued incarceration for almost four to fourandahalf years he is unable to pursue his education and graduate with a doctorate degree Imam is a Ph D student and at the time of his arrest on January 28 2020 was in his final year of pursuing the Modern History course from Jawaharlal Nehru University New DelhiWith ANI inputs