Congress silent on apex court’s SC Delhi 2020 riots bail order, Left parties critical

CPM Rajya Sabha member John Brittas said that the “principle that bail is the rule, jail the exception clearly does not apply when it comes to certain individuals”. Umar Khalid had been detained for more than five years with the trial yet to even begin, while “convicted rapist and murderer Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh (who was sentenced in 2017) has just been granted yet another 40-day parole — his 15th temporary release from prison since conviction”, Brittas said.

“One languishes indefinitely without trial; the other enjoys repeated ‘jail vacations’ on demand,” he said.

CPI general secretary D Raja said that “more than five years in jail without a trial is not justice, but it is punishment without adjudication”. Denial of bail to Umar and Sharjeel “exposes a disturbing double standard in our criminal justice system”, Raja said.

CPI Rajya Sabha member P Sandosh said “it is very unfortunate that [former MLA and Unnao rape case accused] Kuldeep Singh Sengar can be granted bail, but student leaders are denied bail in a case based on fabricated evidence.”

The central committee of the CPI(ML) Liberation said in a statement that the “denial of bail” to Umar and Sharjeel after more than five years of detention without trial marks a “blatant negation of the very idea of justice and constitutional liberty of Indian citizens”.

Cong, other oppn

The Congress, Samajwadi Party, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (SP) issued no statement on the court order. Congress leader and Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who appeared for Gulfisha Fatima, expressed satisfaction that she got bail.

RJD Rajya Sabha member Manoj Kumar Jha said the denial of bail to Umar and Sharjeel raised “troubling questions”. In their case, “the prevailing judicial view seems to be that the time already spent in jail is still not long enough, and that the delay in trial is not yet shocking or unconstitutional”, he said.

TMC MP Sagarika Ghose said that the order in Umar’s case “only shows how the apex court is repeatedly diluting the right to life and liberty”.