Not Part Of Riots Conspiracy, Completely Disconnected From All Co-Accused Including Umar Khalid, Asif Tanha: Sharjeel Imam To Delhi HC

Sharjeel Imam, accused in the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case, on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that he is completely disconnected from all the co-accused persons and is not part of any kind of conspiracy or conspiracy meetings as alleged by the Delhi Police.

The submission was made by Imam's counsel, Advocate Talib Mustafa, before a division bench comprising Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Shalinder Kaur hearing his bail plea in the UAPA case.

Mustafa submitted that Imam's role in the riots as alleged by the prosecution is stated to be till January 23, 2020, and the last overt act relied upon by the Delhi Police is a speech delivered by him in Bihar.

He said that Imam was in Delhi till January 15, 2020, and there is no accusation of him being part of any conspiracy meetings between January 02-15, 2020, except of sending a few speakers to some protest sites.

Mustafa said that the allegations against Imam that he drafted some pamphlets, delivered some speeches, raising Shaheen Bagh protest site and some chats on MSJ WhatsApp group are all part of another FIR (FIR 22 of 2020) in which he has already been granted bail.

He submitted that from the chats recovered from Imam's mobile phone alleging conspiracy, there was not even a single chat with any of the co accused persons, which shows that he was completely disconnected from them.

“I am the only one disconnected with the co accused persons,” the counsel said.

Furthermore, Mustafa said that there was nothing in MSJ WhatsApp group chats which would even remotely convey that there was any intention on the part of Imam to incite violence either in Delhi or in any other part of India and that the group was active only till January 15, 2020.

He also said that there was no single message in the said group which could show that there was any intention or communication where one community was acting against the another, and thus, there was no question of any hate speech or hate messages.

Mustafa also opposed the allegation of the prosecution that Imam was connected to Umar Khalid or Asif Iqbal Tanha, saying that the argument was based on a witness statement which was taken after 6 months of registration of FIR only to show that he was somehow related to the others.

He concluded by saying that Imam was completely disconnected in place, time and with co accused persons and that he has completed more than 5 years in continued custody.

Mustafa asked Court to invoke compassion in the matter as Imam is the sole bread earner in the family and only has his old aged mother.

The matter will now be heard on May 21.

The bench is hearing the bail pleas filed by Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Mohd. Saleem Khan, Shifa ur Rehman, Shadab Ahmed, Athar Khan, Khalid Saifi and Gulfisha Fatima. 

FIR 59 of 2020 was registered by Delhi Police's Special Cell under various offences under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

The accused in the case are Tahir Hussain, Umar Khalid, Khalid Saifi, Isharat Jahan, Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima, Shifa-Ur-Rehman, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Shadab Ahmed, Tasleem Ahmed, Saleem Malik, Mohd. Saleem Khan, Athar Khan, Safoora Zargar, Sharjeel Imam, Faizan Khan and Natasha Narwal.

Title: Umar Khalid v. State and other connected matters