Mumbai HC has granted pre-arrest bail to students of TISS who were charged with sedition for raising slogans supporting riots accused Sharjeel Imam.
A report by Live Law states that two TISS students who were booked for sloganeering in favor of riots accused Sharjeel Imam in the 1 February 2020 LGBTQ rally held in Mumbai have now been granted pre-arrest bail.
The report states:
“Additional Sessions Judge MG Deshpande confirmed interim bail to 22-year-old Ambadi B, observing that there was nothing before the court to show he was part of the gathering and raised anti-national slogans. The second order is yet to be uploaded.
The Azad Maidan police booked three TISS students and 50-60 unknown others under section 124A (sedition), 153B (provocation for riot), and 505 read with 34 (common intention) of IPC after a clip of student Urvashi Chudawala saying, “Sharjil, Tere sapno ko hum manzil tak pahuchayenge” went viral on social media and others were seen “clapping and supporting” the slogans.
“Careful reading of the FIR and the file of investigation prima-facie indicates that the informant had watched the speech of Sharjil Imam on social media and realized that this accused, along with others, are his supporters, hence, committed offence of sedition. Basically, there is nothing before the court to even hold that the present applicant was part of the said assembly and gave anti-national slogans attributing sedition,” the court observed.”
The quality of investigation by Mumbai police is also under question, as according to the court, police failed to even produce a copy of the viral clip. It must also be noted that the main accused in the sedition case TISS student Urvashi Chudawala had been granted interim protection from being arrested last year by Justice SK Shinde.
We’ve seen the ELM (English Language Media) often romanticizing the likes of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam. Terror and riots accused who want to overthrow the Constitution and establish an Islamic state become ‘activists’ for the ELM.
As public memory is short, let’s remind ourselves about why Sharjeel Imam is in jail. An IIT-Mumbai computer science graduate pursuing his PhD from JNU, Imam is a highly radicalised individual who wants to see Bharat turn into an Islamic state.
During the anti-CAA protests, he gave a speech inciting Muslims to block arterial roads across Bharat, and to especially cut off the chicken neck corridor to isolate Assam and the North East from the rest of the country. “‘Don’t Muslims even have that much in them to shut down cities of north India?,” he was heard saying. In another speech, he says, “Constitution of the country should not matter to Muslims and that they only should believe in it when they get power to change it.” His M.Phil thesis was on the topic “Exodus before partition: The attack on Muslims in Bihar in 1946.”
After cases were lodged against him, Sharjeel Imam went absconding before he was arrested by Delhi Police on January 28, 2020 from Bihar’s Jehanabad. He was later also charged in a UAPA case related to instigating the anti-Hindu Delhi riots.
It is not just the media that sympathizes with anti-national elements but even members of the judiciary seem to be awe of such elements. Therefore, such kind of judgments sympathising with those against the nation in the name of ‘activism’ aren’t surprising anymore.
In this regard, it must be pointed out that several eminent citizens had written to the CJI demanding the removal of another Mumbai HC judge SS Shinde (different from Justice SK Shinde) in case he refused to recuse himself from the Bhima Koregaon case hearings.
The move was prompted by Justice SS Shinde’s open sympathy for terror accused Christian evangelist Stanslaus Lourdusamy who was one of the accused in the Bhima Koregaon riots case and also a Maoist.
Bail to IS recruit Areeb Majeed
Earlier, Justice SS Shinde along with Justice Manish Pitale had granted bail to IS recruit Areeb Majeed despite opposition from NIA (National Investigation Agency).
A report by Hindustan Times in the matter stated:
“NIA, through additional solicitor general Anil Singh, had submitted that Majeed had allegedly returned to India to carry out such terrorist acts in the country, including blowing up the Mumbai Police Headquarters. Singh had also argued that granting bail would impact the trial as 107 witnesses were yet to be examined.
While answering to the objection of the NIA that the release of Majeed would prejudice the trial, the HC held that as the under-trial was well-educated, had observed proper decorum while arguing his case before the NIA court as well as the current bench, and had admitted that going to Syria was a mistake, imposing strict conditions would not be harmful to the society at large and would not adversely affect the trial proceedings before the NIA court. The court also observed that the family of the under-trial were well-educated.”
Large sections of judiciary appear to be totally divorced from the ground reality in the nation. They are deaf to the aspirations of a citizenry which wants security, prosperity and civlizational rootedness. Many in the judiciary, as also other institutions like bureaucracy and academia, are still nursing a colonial hangover, imagining they have a ‘civilizing mission’ to ‘transform’ Hindus.
The biases, double standard and clique-like functioning of the judiciary are glaringly obvious. Judicial reforms cannot be delayed any longer.
(Featured Image Source: Live Law)
Did you find this article useful? We’re a non-profit. Make a donation and help pay for our journalism.
HinduPost is now on Telegram. For the best reports & opinions on issues concerning Hindu society, subscribe to HinduPost on Telegram.
