Delhi court leaves Sharjeel Imam's pen drive plea to jail officials

Delhi's Karkardooma Court disposed of Sharjeel Imam's plea for a pen drive with PhD material, leaving the decision to the Jail Superintendent. The court stated it cannot control or monitor the material, making it a matter for jail authorities.

Karkardooma Court Complex (File Photo/ANI)

Court Leaves Pen Drive Plea to Jail Authorities

Delhi's Karkardooma Court on Monday disposed of a plea filed by Sharjeel Imam, saying that only the Jail Superintendent can control and monitor the material stored in a pen drive. The court left it to the discretion of the Jail Superintendent to consider Imam's request.

Sharjeel Imam had sought access to study material for the completion of his PhD thesis on a pen drive.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Sameer Bajpai said, "Only the Jail Authorities can have control and monitor the use of the material by the applicant, and the court leaves it on the discretion of the Superintendent of Prison only to consider the prayer of the applicant."

Arguments in Court

Sharjeel Imam had filed the application through advocate Ahmad Ibrahim. The applicant, Sharjeel Imam, has moved the present application with the prayer to allow him access to the research material on a pen drive so that he can use the same on the computer as available in the jail itself and do some work for completion of his PhD.

Advocate Sharjeel Imam had submitted that earlier the then Superintendent of Prison, Jail No. 1, had allowed the applicant to have the relevant material in a pen drive, and he used the same, but later on the Superintendent changed and the present one is not allowing him to have the material in a pen drive and use the same.

On the other hand, in the reply, the Deputy Superintendent mainly submitted that there would have been more problems if the material was like books, printouts, photocopies, etc., but the data stored in the pen drive may be vast in size, and further, it would be difficult for the jail authority to censor the same.

The court said that it definitely would have no problem allowing the applicant to have access to books, etc but the court would have no control over the material which the applicant may have on a pen drive.

"As such, only the Jail Authorities can have control and monitor the use of the material by the applicant, and the court leaves it on the discretion of the Superintendent of Prison only to consider the prayer of the applicant," the court said in the order.

Imam's Legal Background

Sharjeel Imam is an accused in a case connected with the alleged larger Conspiracy of the Delhi riots of 2020 under UAPA. He has recently moved to the High Court after the denial of bail by the trial court on July 4. Earlier, his bail plea was rejected by the Supreme Court on January 5. (ANI)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)