New Delhi, Nov 11 (UNI) The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain the bail plea of Gulfisha Fatima, one of the accused in the Delhi riots conspiracy case.
A Bench comprising Justice Bela M. Trivedi and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, however, requested the Delhi High Court to prioritize Fatima’s pending bail application at the next scheduled hearing, unless exceptional circumstances necessitate further delay.
“We are not inclined to entertain the present plea. We request the High Court to address the bail plea at the next date specified, given that she has been incarcerated for four years,” noted the Top Court.
Fatima, an MBA graduate, was arrested by Delhi Police on April 11, 2020. She is charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) alongside other high-profile activists and former student leaders, including Umar Khalid, Khalid Saifi, Ishrat Jahan, Tahir Hussain, Meeran Haider, Safoora Zargar, Natasha Narwal, and Devangana Kalita.
Her initial bail plea was rejected by Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat in March 2022 on grounds that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe the accusations were prima facie true.
Fatima then approached the Delhi High Court, which issued a notice to the Delhi government in May 2022 regarding her appeal against the denial of her bail.
Fatima then filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Constitution.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal represented Fatima and highlighted the prolonged delay in both the bail decision and trial progress, questioning the lack of intervention by the Supreme Court.
Justice Trivedi inquired the relevance of Article 32 in filing this bail plea.
The Court subsequently dismissed the plea but urged the Delhi High Court to expedite the bail hearing.
The same Supreme Court Bench had recently rejected a similar plea by Sharjeel Imam and directed the Delhi High Court to promptly consider his bail application.
Meanwhile, the trial court has warned several accused, including Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, and Tahir Hussain, against seeking unnecessary adjournments that delay the trial.
