Delhi High Court grants bail to Sharjeel Imam in Sedition, UAPA case

Imam will, however, continue to remain in jail since he is also an accused in the larger conspiracy case in relation to the Delhi riots.

The Delhi High Court on Monday granted statutory bail to activist Sharjeel Imam in a sedition and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) case filed against him for allegedly making inflammatory speeches in Delhi's Jamia area and Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).

A Division Bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain passed the order after taking into account the fact that he has already served half of the sentence for the offences invoked against him.

Imam will, however, continue to remain in jail since he is also an accused in the larger conspiracy case in relation to the Delhi riots of 2020.

Imam approached the High Court against the trial court order denying him bail in the sedition case.

The case relates to the speeches made by Imam at AMU and Jamia area while protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizenship (NRC).

He was arrested in the case on January 28, 2020.

It was Imam's argument that he had already spent four years in jail out of the maximum sentence of seven years and is, therefore, eligible for statutory bail.

He said that the offence of sedition has been kept in abeyance by the Supreme Court of India and the UAPA provisions invoked against him do not carry more than seven years sentence.