'Such Persons Should Be Barred From Contesting' : Supreme Court Judge On Tahir Hussain's Plea For Interim Bail For Delhi Elections

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) candidate and Delhi Riots case accused Mohd Tahir Hussain has approached the Supreme Court seeking interim bail in order to campaign for the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls.

His plea was listed today before a bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and Ahsanuddin Amanullah which could not take it up for hearing. However, when the matter was mentioned at the end of the board by Senior Advocate Siddharth Aggarwal (for Hussain), the bench directed that the same be listed tomorrow.

During the brief exchange, Aggarwal informed the Court that Hussain was granted custody parole by the Delhi High Court (on January 14) for the purpose of filing his nomination, which has now been accepted. As such, he prays for interim bail so he can campaign ahead of the date of elections ie February 5.

Justice Mithal responded to the submission, saying, "Jail mein baithke ladte hain na chunaav ab toh (these days elections are contested from jail...It is easy to win elections sitting in jail".

When the judge further expressed that people like Hussain should be "debarred from contesting", Aggarwal defended that Hussain's is a genuine case. Ultimately, the bench listed the matter tomorrow.

Hussain, a former Aam Aadmi Party councilor, is booked in the the murder case of Intelligence Bureau (IB) staffer Ankit Sharma during the 2020 North-East Delhi riots. In March, 2024, the trial court framed charges against Hussain and others under Sections 147, 148, 153A, 302, 365, 120B, 149, 188 and 153A IPC. Hussain was additionally charged under Sections 505, 109 and 114 IPC.

Seeking interim bail, Hussain initially approached the Delhi High Court. Though Delhi Police opposed Hussain's plea for interim bail, it took a stand that it was willing to cooperate and support Hussain in filing Nomination Papers (and to open his Bank Account) for which Custody Parole could be granted to him.

Noting that the gravity of allegations against Hussain, that he was the main perpetrator of the riots (which resulted in death of about 59 persons) could not be overlooked, the High Court denied Hussain interim bail on January 14. However, it granted him custody parole for subscribing oath and filing nomination papers in the Assembly polls from Mustafabad constituency.

The Court directed Delhi authorities to facilitate Hussain's filing of nomination papers on the concerned date and to provide the facility for completing the formalities before and after the filing of Nomination Papers for contesting the elections.

Case Title: MOHD TAHIR HUSSAIN Versus STATE OF NCT OF DELHI, SLP(Crl) No. 856/2025