Delhi riots accused Sharjeel Imam told the Delhi High Court on Thursday that he never called for violence in any of the speeches delivered by him as part of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). .Imam’s counsel today concluded his arguments in his bail plea before the division bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur.“In none of my speeches, none of my material there is remotely anything which could say that I at any point intended to incite any kind of violence,” Imam submitted. .It was claimed that the only overt acts attributable to him were the speeches delivered by him at Jamia Milia Islamia and in few other cities. His counsel said that in the speeches, he had impressed upon the audience that the protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has to be non-violent and peaceful.It was further submitted several months after his speeches at Aligarh and Delhi, the Delhi Police and other States started registering first information reports (FIRs) against him on charges of sedition and unlawful assembly under Indian Penal Code and under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). On January 28 2020, he was arrested from his hometown in Jehanabad, Bihar in connection with the Delhi FIR. “Almost 5 years have passed in custody now,” Imam submitted before Court. .Imam further argued that the Delhi Police has charged him for criminal conspiracy with co-accused persons, but there had been no interaction among them.“I am the only one who has no connection with anyone at all. The prosecution made out conspiracy where there was none,” Imam submitted. Further, it was submitted that Imam had distanced himself from Shaheen Bagh protests by a post on Facebook in which he had stated that there is a serious apprehension of violence by political parties and requested to stop protests for the time being. It was also argued that the prosecution has only relied upon his WhatsApp chats to implicate him for criminal conspiracy though there was no chat or call with any of the co-conspirators or co-accused.He further submitted that none of his chats with anyone would even remotely suggest that he intended to incite violence. .Further, Imam made reference to court findings in his bail orders in other cases against him, stating that he had not called for violence.He submitted that the Allahabad High Court had granted him bail in the case pertaining to his Aligarh speech, in which it was observed that “neither the applicant called anyone to bear arms nor was anyone incited.”The counsel also referred to the bail order of a Delhi Court stating that the court had found that the prosecution evidence was “scanty and sketchy.”.Imam was arrested by the Delhi Police in 2020 under the stringent provisions of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).The prosecution has named him as the main conspirator behind the North-east Delhi riots of February 2020.Imam had earlier moved the High Court for early hearing of his bail plea stating that it has been pending since April 2022.The petition was listed for hearing more than 60 times before seven different benches. However, the High Court rejected his plea.He then approached the Supreme Court seeking bail. In the alternative, he sought directions to the High Court to expedite his bail hearing..The Supreme Court in October dismissed his petition.A Bench of Justices Bela Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma said that it was not inclined to entertain the petition since it has been filed directly before the Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Constitution seeking bail.However, it asked the Delhi High Court to consider Imam's request to expeditiously decide his bail plea pending before the High Court.The High Court has now expedited hearing of bail pleas of accused in the Delhi riots conspiracy case.The matter will be heard next on December 20.
