Bombay HC sets aside trial court order rejecting Areeb Majeed’s bail plea

Majeed had filed a bail appeal before the high court against the trial court’s order in October last year. This was his third application.

On Tuesday, Majeed, who argues in person, submitted to the high court that the crucial witnesses relied on by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in their chargesheet had not supported the agency’s case during the trial. He also submitted that since his previous bail applications were rejected on the ground that there was prima facie evidence against him, including statements of these witnesses, it is now a changed circumstance and hence he should be released on bail pending trial.

Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, who is representing the NIA, submitted that Majeed had not made this submission before the trial court while arguing for bail and hence he could not raise this point in the appeal before the high court. Singh relied on a paragraph from the order of the trial court dated September 19, 2019, which stated that Majeed had not relied on the deposition of witnesses while arguing for bail.

Majeed, however, pointed to another paragraph where the trial court said that the bail application referred to the witnesses.

A division bench of Justices B P Dharmadhikari and Nitin Borkar, on perusal of both the paragraphs ‘contradictory’ to each other, said only one of them cannot be considered to be “correct”.

The high court also referred to other portions of the trial court’s order regarding whether or not Majeed had mentioned the slow pace of trial as a ground for bail. “Such confusion appears again when the ground of slow pace of trial was required to be considered,” the bench said. It said that the paragraphs “raise doubt” on whether or not Majeed had made the same submissions he was making before the high court during arguments in the trial court.

While Singh suggested that Majeed file an application before the trial court seeking a review of the order, the bench directed that the trial court order be set aside and the bail plea be placed before the trial court for fresh consideration.

Majeed, along with three others, allegedly had travelled to Iraq and Syria to join the Islamic State in 2014. While the NIA claims that he returned to the country with an “ulterior motive”, Majeed said that his return was facilitated by the agency. In his bail application before the high court, Majeed claimed that 12 witnesses had turned hostile after the trial court rejected his bail in September. He claimed that the evidence, so far, did not point towards his involvement in the offence, as alleged by the NIA.

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