Activist Sharjeel Imam gets interim bail in Delhi riots conspiracy case

Jailed activist Sharjeel Imam was on Tuesday granted interim bail for seven days by a Delhi court in the 2020 riots conspiracy case, PTI reported.

Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai allowed Imam’s plea seeking interim bail to attend his cousin’s wedding. The bail period will begin on October 4.

Imam, Umar Khalid and the other activists had been arrested between January 2020 and September 2020 in connection with the communal violence that broke out in North East Delhi in February 2020 between supporters of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act and those opposing it. The violence had left 53 dead and hundreds injured. Most of those killed were Muslims.

The persons accused in the matter have been charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, the Arms Act and sections of the Indian Penal Code.

The police have claimed that the violence was part of a larger conspiracy to defame the Narendra Modi government and was planned by those who organised the protests against the amended Citizenship Act.

On July 4, a Delhi court rejected Imam and Khalid’s bail petition. Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai of Karkardooma Courts said that he was bound by the Supreme Court’s order from January that denied them bail.

The Supreme Court in its January order had said...

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