Delhi HC questions necessity of interim bail for Tahir Hussain to contest assembly elections

The Delhi Police opposed Tahir's interim bail plea, citing the case of Amritpal Singh, who had filed his nomination from jail, as a precedent.

The Delhi Police has opposed the interim bail plea of AIMIM leader Tahir Hussain, who is seeking bail to contest and campaign in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections. Hussain, an accused in the Ankit Sharma murder case, has requested bail from January 14 to February 9 to participate in the election process.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma appeared for Delhi Police and referred the Amritpal Singh's Case, Where He Filed a Nomination from Jail as a Precedent. Noted this, the Court raises concern over the need for interim bail to file nomination.

The bench of Justice Neena Bansal Krishna of Delhi High Court has fixed the matter for hearing tomorrow, along with his pending regular bail petition, before the same bench.

The lawyer representing Tahir Hussain informed the court that the nomination process had already begun. He also referenced the Rashid Engineer case during the hearing to support his argument.

In addition to this, Tahir Hussain has also approached the trial court for interim bail in other cases related to the Delhi riots and Enforcement Directorate investigations.

Recently Delhi High Court issued a notice on the regular bail petition filed by Tahir Hussain. The petition relates to the murder case of IB officer Ankit Sharma during the 2020 North East Delhi violence.

Hussain's plea contends that there is a lack of credible evidence against him and seeks bail on the grounds of parity. The plea contended that the applicant is accused of being an instigator and co-conspirator. Of the 20 prosecution witnesses examined so far, the majority of the alleged eyewitnesses have either not supported the prosecution's case or provided testimony that lacks credibility and cannot be considered reliable.

The statements of police witnesses also contain significant contradictions and embellishments, making them untrustworthy as evidence against the applicant. The statements of the remaining public witnesses largely mirror those of the witnesses previously examined in the case, the plea added. In May, the Delhi High Court granted bail to three men involved in the killing of Intelligence Bureau official Ankit Sharma.

The court emphasized that bail is the general rule during the pendency of a trial, while incarceration is an exception. It also noted that the accused had been in custody for four years, and the trial was unlikely to conclude shortly. A First Information Report (FIR) was filed by Ankit Sharma's father in February 2020, after his son went out to buy groceries and other household items but failed to return home for several hours. Concerned for his son's safety, Sharma's father filed a missing person's report with the police.

According to Delhi Police, the four accused were part of a violent mob that killed Sharma, and they were also involved in rioting and arson during the clashes. The communal violence erupted in northeast Delhi on February 24, 2020, when tensions between supporters of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and protesters escalated, leading to at least 53 deaths and numerous injuries. (ANI)