Supreme Court moots parole for AIMIM’s Tahir Hussain to campaign in Delhi Assembly polls

Supreme Court moots parole for AIMIM’s Tahir Hussain to campaign in Delhi Assembly polls

A three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday (January 28, 2024) gave the Delhi Police time till 2 p.m. on January 29 to respond to a suggestion to permit custody parole to AIMIM candidate Tahir Hussain to campaign in the Delhi Assembly elections.

The Bench headed by Justice Vikram Nath asked Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, appearing for the police, to also examine the security required for Mr. Hussain during the parole period and approximate expenses for it.

The court said the amount could be paid to the Delhi Police in advance, probably on January 28.

The case was referred to the larger three-judge Bench after a Division Bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and Ahsanuddin Amanullah delivered a split verdict on January 21 on Mr. Hussain’s plea for interim bail to canvass for votes.

Justice Mithal had concluded that canvassing for votes was neither a fundamental right under the Constitution nor a right recognised under any statute. The judge said contesting elections was not a fundamental right. The judge had held that bail to Mr. Hussain, who is an accused in the murder of an Intelligence Bureau officer during the 2020 Delhi riots, would “open the floodgates” for every other undertrial to seek the same remedy on the ground that they wanted to canvass votes or contest in polls.

Justice Amanullah, in his opinion, had focussed on the fact that Mr. Hussain had been in custody as an undertrial since March 2020 and deserved interim bail. Magnitude of an offence by itself cannot be used to deny bail, Justice Amanullah had pointed out.

On Tuesday, senior advocate Siddharth Agarwal, for Mr. Hussain, said every passing day reduced the impact of any relief that may come to his client.