A special bench has been constituted by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna to hear the interim bail plea of Tahir Hussain, a accused in a case of February 2020 riots connected to the death of Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma. The bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Sandeep Mehta in the Supreme Court will hear Hussain’s bail plea on January 28.
Tahir Hussain, an AIMIM candidate from Mustafabad seat in Delhi, has sought interim bail for the election campaign for the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls. Earlier, a Supreme Court bench of two-judges, Justice Pankaj Mittal and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, hearing Tahir’s interim bail plea had given a split verdict.
Justice Pankaj Mittal was not in favor of granting bail to Hussain while Justice Amanullah was of the opinion that bail can be granted with certain conditions.
Observing the right to contest elections was not a fundamental right, Justice Mithal said allowing interim bail could open a Pandora’s box as every undertrial would invoke the same ground.
“In the event interim bails are to be allowed for purposes of contesting elections, it will open a Pandora’s box. Since elections are all year round, every undertrial would come with the plea that he wants to participate in elections and therefore be granted interim bail. This would open floodgates, which in our opinion can’t be permitted,” he said.
The Delhi High Court on January 14 granted custody parole to Hussain to file nomination papers from the Mustafabad constituency on an AIMIM ticket.
It, however, refused his plea for interim bail from January 14 to February 9 to fight polls, saying the gravity of allegations against Hussain, being the main perpetrator in the violence, which resulted in the death of several persons, could not be overlooked.
The high court said about 11 FIRs were registered against him in connection with the riots and he was admittedly in custody in a related money laundering case and UAPA case.
(With PTI inputs)
