Supreme Court Grants Custody Parole To Delhi Riots Accused Tahir Hussain For Delhi Assembly Elections Campaigning

The Supreme Court today granted custody parole to Mohd Tahir Hussain, an undertrial prisoner in the Delhi riots case, to canvass votes in the Mustafabad constituency as a candidate of the AIMIM in elections to the Delhi legislative assembly.As per the custody parole, Hussain will be released during the day hours (for 12 hours, as per the Jail Manual) from January 29 to February 3 for campaigning, subjected to the advance payment of expenses stipulated in the order.As agreed, he would bear all the expenses, including those relating to police escort, and not visit his house (alleged to be the place where the criminal conspiracy was hatched), which falls near the Mustafabad constituency. Hussain and the deputed officers would be staying at an accommodation specified by his counsel Senior Advocate Siddharth Agarwal, or in the alternative, at a specified hotel.Besides directing compliance with his undertakings, the Court has ordered Hussain to deposit in advance a sum of Rs. 2,07,429/-, stated to be the expense for two days. The same shall be followed by advance payments for the remaining period, on 2-day basis. The first payment has to be tendered by 6 PM today to the concerned authority, which shall accept it without any objection. The Court has also restrained Hussain from making any public comments regarding the merits of the matter.The order has been passed by a bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta, in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, with a direction that it shall not be treated as a precedent. The Court has further said that Hussain's bail application pending before the High Court shall be decided on its own merits without being influenced by the orders passed by the Supreme Court.Briefly stated, Hussain moved the Court seeking interim bail in the case related to the murder of IB officer Ankit Sharma during the 2020 North East Delhi riots. However, today, he restricted his prayers to custody parole, given he is in custody in few other cases and there is little time left for canvassing. Earlier in the day, the matter was passed-over to enable Additional Solicitor General SV Raju to get instructions from Delhi police regarding the security arrangements and required expenses, in the event of grant of custody parole to Hussain.The custody parole order was preceded by a split verdict of Justices Pankaj Mithal and Ahsanuddin Amanullah on Hussain's Special Leave Petition challenging the Delhi High Court's order which refused him interim bail and granted only a custody parole to file nomination to contest in the Delhi Legislative Assembly polls.BackgroundHussain, 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.Subsequent to this order, Hussain approached the Supreme Court seeking interim bail to campaign ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls. When the matter was listed for the first time, Justice Mithal expressed that people like Hussain should be "barred from contesting".Case Title: MOHD TAHIR HUSSAIN v. STATE OF NCT OF DELHI, SLP(Crl) No. 856/2025Click Here To Read/Download Order

Supreme Court Grants Custody Parole To Delhi Riots Accused Tahir Hussain For Delhi Assembly Elections Campaigning

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