AIMIM Delhi polls candidate Tahir Hussain to High Court: ‘Want bail to give a true account of my assets’

Hussain’s submission came following a query from the court. Justice Neena Bansal Krishna orally asked Hussain’s counsel if he just needed to file his nomination. “You can do that even while sitting in jail,” said Justice Bansal.

To this, his counsel said Hussain has been in jail since March 2020. “It can be done, but the whole election process has been notified. I’ve been chosen by a national party so there must be a proposer… I want to file a true account of all my properties and assets and I’ll have to choose a proposer,” said the counsel.

Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, too, pointed out to the court that the latest precedent for interim bail in cases of incarcerated individuals on grounds of contesting elections is that of Amritpal Singh. Opposing the grant of interim relief to Hussain and referring to Singh’s case, Sharma said, “He (Singh) was permitted to file nomination, allowed to meet his proposer from jail”.

Singh, who has been booked under the National Security Act (NSA) and lodged at a jail in Assam’s Dibrugarh, filed his nomination papers from jail for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and won a seat in Punjab.

Hussain’s counsel also pointed out to the court that Engineer Rashid was granted interim bail to contest in the Jammu and Kashmir elections last year. While Rashid contested the Lok Sabha polls from jail and won the Baramulla seat as an Independent, he was later granted interim bail to contest in J-K Assembly polls.

Hussain, in his plea for interim bail, is also relying on the Supreme Court judgment in favour of AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal in 2024, when it granted him bail to participate in the Lok Sabha elections.

The Delhi High Court is due to consider Hussain’s plea for interim bail on Tuesday.

In custody since March 16, 2020, Hussain, a former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor faces charges of killing Intelligence Bureau (IB) staff Ankit Sharma during the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots. The AAP had suspended Hussain after he was named as an accused in the case.

Hussain was booked in 12 cases, including one Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Last November, the High Court quashed and set aside a second FIR stemming from the same incident.

Of the 11 criminal incidents he faces now, he has been granted bail in eight cases so far and continues to remain in custody in connection to three, which include the ED case, the larger conspiracy case of the Delhi riots where he is facing charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or UAPA, and the Dayalpur FIR.