A Delhi court on Saturday held that student activist Sharjeel Imam, accused in the 2020 northeast Delhi riots larger conspiracy case, "apparently flouted" a condition of his interim bail by coming in contact with the media, but refused to cancel the bail as he was already on his way to surrender.
Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai passed the order on an application filed by the state seeking cancellation of Imam's interim bail.
The order said, "As far as the cancellation of the interim bail is concerned, the accused has already boarded a flight and will reach Delhi in the evening and will surrender. Therefore, under these circumstances, it will not be appropriate for the court to pass an order for cancellation of bail." On September 22, Imam was granted bail for seven days from October 4 to 10 to attend his cousin's wedding. However, the order barred him from using social media or contacting any mediaperson, and from meeting anyone other than family members, relatives and friends.
Representing the state, Special Public Prosecutors Madhukar Pandey and Anirudh Mishra submitted before the court that Imam violated his bail conditions, pointing to videos on a YouTube channel and on social media platform X. They said the video uploaded by a news channel showed Imam's brother giving an interview when he was present in the room.
Imam's counsel Talif Mustafa and Ahmad Ibrahim denied the allegations, saying that he had not used social media, given any interview or interacted with any mediaperson.