Delhi High Court denies bail to Tasleem Ahmed in 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday denied bail to Tasleem Ahmed, accused in an Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act case in connection with the North East Delhi riots of February 2020 [Tasleem Ahmed v. State Govt of NCT of Delhi].

A Bench of Justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar passed the order.

Notably, a separate bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur will decide on the bail pleas of co-accused Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa Ur Rehman, Athar Khan, Meeran Haider, Shadab Ahmed, Abdul Khalid Saifi and Gulfisha Fatima.

Ahmed's case was de-tagged from others on the request of his counsel.

It was Ahmed's case that he was only an anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protester, but he was arrested on terror charges on June 24, 2020. He urged the Court to release him on bail, citing delay in trial and period of custody already undergone.

Appearing for Ahmed, Advocate Mehmood Pracha argued that the trial court is still hearing arguments, and that his client should be released on bail on parity with co-accused Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and Asif Iqbal Tanha.

However, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad opposed the submissions and said that the delay in the trial was being caused by the accused and not the prosecution. Prasad said that Ahmed was part of the wider conspiracy behind the Delhi riots.