Supreme Court asks Delhi Police about security arrangements and expenses if Tahir Hussain granted custody parole

Last week, a two-judge bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and Ahsanuddin Amanullah delivered a split verdict on January 22 with Justice Mithal dismissing it and Justice Amanullah granting him interim bail. Hussain has moved a plea for interim bail to campaign as the AIMIM candidate from Mustafabad.

The matter was then directed to be placed before a three-judge bench and was accordingly listed before a special bench of Justices Nath, Karol and Mehta.

On Tuesday, Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the Delhi Police, pointed out that Husain is in custody in two more cases and even if granted interim bail in the current one, he will not be able to come out. Raju said giving interim bail for the election campaign will open floodgates as many others may also approach courts seeking similar relief.

Representing Hussain, Senior Advocate Siddharth Agarwal said he was not pressing the prayer for interim bail as the Delhi Assembly elections are around the corner and he was only seeking custody parole for four days to campaign. Agarwal also submitted that Hussain will stay in a hotel or other place and not his house which the prosecution had termed as the epicentre of the criminal conspiracy behind the 2020 Northeast Delhi communal riots in which he is facing trial.

Responding to a query from the bench, the senior counsel added that applications for relief are pending in the other cases as well.

When the court sought to know how safe it would be for Hussain to come out of jail, Raju said “ We don’t know how much protection would be required?”. The senior law officer agreed to take instructions and inform the bench Wednesday.

Hussain sought interim bail from January 14 to February 9 to participate in the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections as a candidate from Mustafabad. On January 14, the High Court refused to grant him interim bail but allowed him custody parole to file his nomination following which he approached the Supreme Court.