New Delhi, July 30:
The Supreme Court has granted bail to two alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives, who were in custody since 2014, saying their continued incarceration was “grossly violative” of the right to liberty enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta noted that the petitioners — Mohd Saquib Ansari and Waqar Azhar — were incarcerated in connection with a terror case lodged in Delhi for nearly 12 years with no prospect of an early conclusion of the trial.
“The progress of the trial has been extremely slow and there appears to be no prospect of the trial being concluded in the near future,” the bench said in its July 27 order.
It also noted that one of the co-accused was already enlarged on bail.
The top court passed the order on separate pleas filed by Ansari and Azhar challenging an April order of the Delhi High Court that had refused to grant them bail in the case registered by the Special Cell of Delhi Police in November 2011.
” …we feel that the continued incarceration of the petitioners in this case is grossly violative of the right to liberty enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution of India,” the bench said.
It noted that the petitioners were arrested in connection with three FIRs, including two registered in Rajasthan, in 2014 and had remained in custody ever since.
The bench said that in one of the cases lodged in Rajasthan, both the petitioners were convicted by a trial court in March 2021 and subsequently, the sentence awarded to them was suspended by the high court.
It said trial in another case registered against them in Rajasthan was pending and both the petitioners had already been granted bail in that case.
“Having appreciated the submissions advanced at bar and upon going through the record, we find that the petitioners have, more or less, been implicated in three separate FIRs for overlapping allegations,” the bench said.
It directed that the petitioners be released on bail on such terms and conditions as may be imposed by the trial court in connection with the FIR registered in Delhi, subject to them not being required in any other case.
The bench said the petitioners would continue to cooperate with trial.