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The Delhi High Court Wednesday directed a court to decide the bail plea of a man who has spent more than nine years in jail in an Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) case within 75 days.
A single judge bench of Justice Jasmeet Singh was hearing a plea filed by Manzer Imam who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2013 in a case related to alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives. Imam has been booked under various provisions of the UAPA as well as IPC sections 121A (conspiracy to wage war/attempt or abet to wage war against Government of India) and 123 (Concealing with intent to facilitate design to wage war).
Appearing for Imam, Kartik Murukutla submitted that he had been in custody since October 1, 2013, and has spent over “nine years in incarceration”. He also submitted that the charges against Imam have not been framed till now, and there are 369 witnesses.
Appearing for the NIA, Special Public Prosecutor Shilpa Singh submitted that Imam has the remedy to approach the special court on this issue which he has not availed, to which Murukutla sought to withdraw the bail application from the High Court with liberty to approach the special court (court of sessions) on similar grounds. Murukutla, however, submitted that since Imam has already undergone incarceration for nine years and charges have not been framed yet, a time frame should be indicated for disposing of the application.
Granting liberty to Imam to approach the special court, the HC held, “The request seems to be justified. For the aforesaid reasons, the bail application is dismissed as withdrawn with liberty to the applicant to approach the special court on the same grounds raised in the present bail application. The special court will hear and dispose of the bail application of the applicant within 75 days from the date of this order. With these directions, the application is disposed of.”
Imam has also moved a plea seeking a direction to ensure that the special courts under section 11 of the NIA Act deal exclusively with cases being probed by the central agency. The petition states that there are only two courts in Delhi notified as designated ones for trials under the NIA Act, resulting in a delay in proceedings. The chargesheet was filed in February 2014, but they are yet to be framed by the court, as per Imam’s petition, and a total of 24 persons are accused in the case. In some cases before NIA courts, the accused have been in custody since 2013 and in a majority of them, they were arrested prior to 2020.
At present, the court of principal district and sessions judge, New Delhi and the additional district and session judge-03 (ASJ-03), Patiala House Courts are hearing NIA cases.
In a September status report filed by the administrative side of the Delhi High Court as of July 31, 44 cases under the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008 are pending before two designated special courts in Patiala House Courts.
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