Supreme Court allows Tahir Hussain to campaign for Delhi polls in police custody

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed a plea by ex-AAP councillor and Delhi riots accused Tahir Hussain to be released from jail between January 29 and February 3 during the daytime for campaigning in the Delhi Assembly polls as he is contesting election as an AIMIM candidate.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta said the petitioner will be released in police protection as per the timings prescribed in the Jail Manual from January 29 to February 3, 2025, upon the deposit of expenses.

Senior advocate Siddharth Aggarwal, appearing for the petitioner, at the outset, submitted that he is confining his petition for limited relief that the petitioner be released on custody parole from January 29, 2025, till February 3, 2025.

He further submitted that the petitioner would bear all the expenses of the State and would make an advance deposit for two days at a time for this period of six days. He also said that the petitioner may be allowed to visit his party office and also attend his meeting etc within the constituency.

He may also be required to sign necessary documents and meet his counsel and campaign managers. He further submits that the petitioner should not visit his original residence, which was alleged to be the epicentre during the 2020 riots.

The counsel also submitted that the petitioner should not make any comments on his pending cases in his address or campaign or any Press Conference. Lastly, he said that the petitioner would take care of all the expenses for boarding and lodging of the police officer deployed for his safety and security.

Opposing his plea for custody parole, Additional Solicitor General S V Raju said he may be allowed to leave the jail and return to it every day as per the timings of entry and exit provided in the Jail Manual.

In its order, the bench made clear that this order should not be treated as a precedent and that the pending bail application before the High Court should be considered

on its own merits, uninfluenced by any observation made herein.

On January 22, a two-judge bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and Ahsanuddin Amanullah gave a split verdict. While Justice Mithal refused interim bail for Hussain, Justice Amanullah said he could be released on interim bail.

The Delhi High Court had on January 14 granted custody parole to Hussain to file his nomination papers from the Mustafabad constituency on an All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) ticket. However, it had rejected his plea for interim bail from January 14 to February 9 to campaign.

Hussain sought bail in a case related to the Delhi riots in 2020, which claimed the lives of 53 people.