NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Monday said it will hear on May 4 a plea by JNU student Sharjeel Imam seeking bail in a sedition case related to the 2020 riots. The petition, which assails a January 24, 2022 order by the trial court dismissing his bail, was listed for hearing before a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Vikas Mahajan.
The bench fixed the matter for hearing in May as the counsel for one of the parties was not available on Monday. On January 30, the court sought to know the stand of the police as to whether Imam’s plea for bail could be remanded back to the trial court for adjudication as there was no ground mentioned in the lower court’s order for rejecting the relief.
The bench said since section 124A (sedition) of the IPC has been kept in abeyance on the directions of the Supreme Court, it will have to examine the trial court’s bail rejection order while keeping in mind the other penal sections applied against Imam.
The trial court framed charges against Imam under Sections 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity), 505 (Statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code.
