The matter will be heard tomorrow by a division bench comprising Justice Prathiba M Singh and Justice Vikas Mahajan.

Imam has challenged the trial court order denying him bail on July 04.

Vide the impugned order, the trial court had said that the judgment of Gulfisha Fatima and Syed Iftikhar Andrabi has already been referred to a larger bench by the Supreme Court and as such unless the issue is settled, it could not consider the bail application of Imam on any ground.

The judge added that he has no option but to follow the Supreme Court's judgment denying bail to Imam.

The Court noted that the Supreme Court had said that only on the completion of the examination of the protected witnesses or upon expiry of one year from the date of said order, whichever is earlier, Imam would be at liberty to renew their prayer for grant of bail.

For context, Khalid had filed plea seeking review of Supreme Court's January 5 order, which was dismissed.

Imam had filed regular bail pleas after a coordinate bench of the Supreme Court questioned the ruling denying bail to him. On January 5 the Supreme Court had granted bail to Gulfisha Fatima, Meera Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, Mohd. Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmed; it had however denied bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam.

Thereafter a coordinate division bench led by Justice BV Nagarathana had expressed reservations about the judgment in Gulfisha Fatima v. State saying that it did not properly follow the judgment delivered by a three-judge bench in 2021 in Union of India v. KA Najeebwhich recognised long delay in trial as a ground for bail in cases under UAPA.

In May, the division bench led by Justice Aravind Kumar, which had rejected Khalid and Sharjeel's bail pleas, while observing that there was a "perceived conflict" among different benches regarding the understanding of the 3-judge bench judgment in Union of India v KA Najeeb, referred the issue to a larger bench.

FIR 59 of 2020 is being probed by Delhi Police's Special Cell. The case has been registered under various offences under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

The accused in the case are Tahir Hussain, Umar Khalid, Khalid Saifi, Isharat Jahan, Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima, Shifa-Ur-Rehman, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Shadab Ahmed, Tasleem Ahmed, Saleem Malik, Mohd. Saleem Khan, Athar Khan, Safoora Zargar, Sharjeel Imam, Faizan Khan and Natasha Narwal.

Title: Sharjeel Imam v. State