Delhi High Court Judge Recuses From Hearing Bail Plea Of UAPA Accused

Justice Siddharth Mridul of Delhi High Court on Tuesday recused from hearing a bail plea moved by an accused, who has been in jail for more than nine years in a case registered under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The charges are yet to be framed in the case.

Manzer Imam, an alleged Indian Mujahideen operative, was arrested in August 2013 in a case registered by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) alleging that he, along with others, conspired to commit terrorist acts and made preparations for targeting prominent places in the country.

The bail appeal was listed before the division bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Talwant Singh. Imam was recently denied bail by the trial court. A single judge in October last year asked the special court to hear and dispose of his bail application within a period of 75 days.

As Imam’s counsel submitted that the accused has been in custody for a period or nine years and that the arguments of charge have begun again in the matter, Justice Mridul expressed his difficulty in hearing the appeal.

“In some of the bans imposed on SIMI [Students' Islamic Movement of India] … for a period of two years I was a senior counsel for the government. Would I hear this matter?….There is a difficulty," said Justice Mridul.

Accordingly, recusing from hearing the appeal, the court ordered that the matter be listed before another bench subject to obtaining necessary orders of the Chief Justice.

The matter will now be listed on January 13.

The appeal on behalf of Imam has been filed through Advocate Kartik Purushottama Murukutla.

The FIR in which Imam is an accused invokes Section 17, 18, 18B and 20 of UAPA and Section 121A and 123 of Indian Penal Code.

In 2021, Imam had moved another plea before the High Court seeking day-to-day hearing in his case before the trial court, claiming that the accused persons in NIA cases are languishing for years in jail without completion or expeditious trial which was in violation of their fundamental right to a speedy trial.

Title: MANZER IMAM v. NATIONAL INVESTIGATION AGENCY