Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Dec 7: Sharjeel Imam, a student at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), petitioned the Supreme Court to have certain comments made about him by the Delhi High Court removed from its decision denying co-accused Umar Khalid bail in the Delhi Riots Conspiracy case.
Imam was referred to by the Delhi High Court as ‘arguably the head of the scheme’ when it denied Khalid bail.
According to Imam, these comments were made without giving him a chance to respond and without any supporting documentation, clearly in violation of the Principles of Natural Justice.
According to the Special Leave Petition (SLP), which was submitted by Advocate-on-Record Lzafeer Ahmad BF, the High Court’s observations go beyond the bounds of a bail application and focus on the criminal case’s merits, even if Imam’s bail application is still pending before the same court.
According to Imam, this compromises his fundamental right to a free and fair trial, which is protected by article 21 of the Indian Constitution, and makes both the bail application and the criminal trial a fait accompli.
Additionally, it was stated in the petition that there was zero proof supporting the impugned observations.
Notably, none of the Impugned observations and remarks are borne out of the record. Rather, they are ex-facie contradictory and even go beyond the allegations contained in the chargesheet,” the plea reads.
The argument also emphasised that none of the order’s observations were mentioned in the conclusion paragraph, making it abundantly clear that they were not necessary to decide Umar Khalid’s appeal.
