Delhi HC permits Sharjeel Imam to approach trial court for interim bail

The Delhi High Court on Thursday permitted JNU student Sharjeel Imam to approach a trial court for interim bail on account of a Supreme Court order to keep in abeyance proceedings in all sedition cases in the countryImam was arrested in a case related to alleged inflammatory speeches made by him during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act CAA and the National Register of Citizens NRC in 2019A bench headed by Justice Mukta Gupta allowed Imam to withdraw his application seeking interim bail from the high court after special public prosecutor Amit Prasad said while the case essentially pertained to section 124A sedition of the IPC the law required the accused to first move the trial court for bail and approach the high court in case of an appealIn view of the objection the counsel for Imam lawyer Tanveer Ahmed Mir sought leave to withdraw the applicationThe applicant is permitted to withdraw the application with liberty to file application before the trial court said the bench also comprising Justice Mini PushkarnaThe application seeking the interim bail was filed in Imams already pending bail plea in the caseImam who has been charged with section 124A of the IPC which entails life imprisonment had approached the high court earlier challenging a trial courts January 24 order denying him bail in the caseAs per the prosecution Imam had allegedly made speeches at the Jamia Millia Islamia on December 13 2019 and the Aligarh Muslim University on December 16 2019 in which he threatened to cut off Assam and the rest of the northeast from IndiaThe application filed through advocates Talib Mustafa Ahmad Ibrahim and Kartik Venu had said that in view of the Supreme Courts directions the hindrance raised by the special court while rejecting his plea for release stood obviated and observations surrounding the offence under section 124A of the IPC cannot be taken into consideration in the proceedings pending the final outcome of the constitutional challenges to the sectionOn May 11 the Supreme Court had stayed till further orders registration of FIRs probes and coercive measures for the offence of sedition across the country by the Centre and the states until an appropriate forum of the government reexamines the colonialera penal lawThe top court had taken note of the concerns of the Centre and said the iquestrigours of Section 124A sedition of the IPC is not in tune with the current social milieuiquest and permitted reconsideration of the provisionAny affected party was at liberty to approach the courts concerned which are requested to examine the reliefs sought taking into consideration the present order the apex court had saidAll pending cases appeals and proceedings concerning the provision of sedition would be kept at abeyance and the adjudication of other offences if any could proceed it had addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever