2020 Delhi riots: Sharjeel Imam seeks interim bail to contest Bihar polls

New Delhi: Student activist Sharjeel Imam, an accused in the larger conspiracy behind the 2020 riots case, has sought a 14-day interim bail to file his nomination and campaign for the upcoming assembly elections in Bihar.

The plea before Additional Sessions Judge Sammer Bajpai said that Imam, a permanent resident of Jehanabad district in Bihar, was arrested on August 25, 2020, when he was a final year PhD student in JNU, and had been incarcerated since then.

It said, "That since the applicant is a political prisoner and a student activist, he is willing to contest elections from his home state, Bihar." The plea said Imam wants to fight the polls from the Bahdaruganj assembly seat as an Independent.

Seeking interim bail from November 15 to 29 for filing nomination and electoral campaigning, the plea said, "There is no one to take care of and make arrangements for his nomination and campaign for the elections, except his younger brother, who is also currently looking after his ailing mother and providing for his family." The plea said that in September 2024, the Patiala House district court here had granted interim bail to Engineer Abdul Rashid for him to campaign in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections.