New Delhi

Student activist Sharjeel Imam on Thursday approached the Delhi High Court, seeking bail in a case under the anti-terror UAPA law concerning the "larger conspiracy" behind the February 2020 riots in the city.

Imam's appeal challenging the trial court's July 4 decision to dismiss his second regular bail application is listed for hearing before a bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Vikas Mahajan on Friday.

Imam was arrested on August 25, 2020, and booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for being one of the "masterminds" of the February 2020 riots in northeast Delhi that left 53 people dead and more than 700 injured.

The violence erupted during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, and the National Register of Citizens.

On July 4, the trial court rejected Imam's bail application, saying it had "no option but to follow" the Supreme Court's January 5 order and, therefore, could neither entertain the plea nor grant him the relief.

The trial court stated that the bail plea was not even maintainable before it.

In his appeal in the high court, Imam said the trial court has erred in declining to independently examine his plea for regular bail.

The plea said even after a passage of six years, the proceedings before the trial court were yet to proceed beyond the stage of arguments on charge.

On January 5, the Supreme Court refused bail to Umar Khalid and Imam in the larger conspiracy case, while granting relief to co-accused Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, Mohammad Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmad.

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A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria then observed that there was a prima facie case against Khalid and Imam under the UAPA and held that all accused could not be treated equally in view of the "hierarchy of participation".