Delhi riots case: SC delivers split verdict on Tahir Hussain’s bail plea to contest Assembly polls

The Supreme Court on Wednesday delivered a split verdict on a petition by former Aam Aadmi Party Councillor Tahir Hussain, who is accused in the 2020 Delhi riots case, seeking interim bail to campaign for the upcoming Assembly elections in the national capital, reported Bar and Bench.

Hussain is contesting the elections on an All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen ticket from the Mustafabad seat. The Assembly polls are scheduled for February 5 and the counting of votes will take place on February 8.

A bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and Ahsanuddin Amanullah was hearing an appeal by Hussain against a January 14 order of the Delhi High Court that refused to grant him bail to campaign for the elections.

Mithal rejected the petition while Amanullah said that the former Aam Aadmi Party Councillor should be granted interim bail.

“Since our opinions have differed, let registry place this matter before the chief justice of India for the constitution of a third judge or to it before a three-judge bench,” Bar and Bench quoted Mithal as saying.

The Aam Aadmi Party had suspended Hussain after he was listed as an accused in the riots case. He subsequently joined the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen in December.

The case pertained to the clashes that had broken out in North East Delhi in February 2020 between…

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