Interim bail for campaigning in elections is not permissible as it is not a fundamental right and could lead to misuse of the legal process.

ORDER :

PANKAJ MITHAL, J.

1. Heard Mr. Siddharth Aggarwal, learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioner and Mr. S.V. Raju, learned Additional Solicitor General appearing for the respondent-State.

2. The petitioner is in custody in connection with FIR No. 65 of 2020 dated 26.02.2020 registered at Police Station Dayalpur, District North East, Delhi in connection with rioting and murder of one Ankit Sharma, an official of the Intelligence Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Apart from the aforesaid case, several other cases relating to riots in Delhi which took place in the month of February, 2020 and one under PMLA are pending consideration and the petitioner is allegedly involved in all of them.

3. The petitioner so far has not been successful in getting bail in the above case and some other cases, so he applied to the High Court for grant of interim bail from 14.01.2025 to 09.02.2025 simply to participate and contest Delhi Assembly Election, 2025 from Mustafabad Constituency, Delhi. It may be remembered that the petitioner was earlier a councilor from the ticket of the Aam Aadmi Party. However, subsequently he left the said party and was given ticket to contest the Assembly Elections by the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). He took the ticket to contest the Assembly Elections fully knowing that he is in jail in connection with several cases in some of which he may have been granted bail but continues to languish therein and so he has to participate in the election remaining behind the bars.

4. The interim bail application moved by the petitioner was considered by the High Court and was ultimately disallowed by the order impugned dated 14.01.2025 but he was granted conditional custody parole for subscribing oath and to complete formalities in respect of filing his nomination papers to contest the Assembly Elections. In this way, though the petitioner has no fundamental right to contest the elections but his statutory right to that effect was duly protected.

5. The petitioner is not satisfied by the grant of custody parole for filing his nomination enabling him to participate in the election and has thus preferred this Special Leave Petition contending inter alia that permitting filing of nomination is meaningless if he is not allowed to campaign and canvass.

6. It is important to note here that right to campaign or canvass is neither a fundamental right nor a constitutional or a human right. It is not even a right recognized under any statute. However, the petitioner is an Indian citizen and we are conscious that his rights as a citizen are to be protected. Nonetheless, the involvement of the petitioner in as many as eleven cases including the present one, one pertaining to PMLA and nine in relation to Delhi riots of 2020, dilutes and erodes his position as a law-abiding citizen.

7. The allegations against the petitioner in the present case are not only in connection with the rioting but also of the murder of the official of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. The allegations made against the petitioner, if considered cumulatively along with the chargesheet which has been submitted on 02.06.2020 reveals the seriousness of the charges levelled against the petitioner. The allegations against the petitioner are also to the effect that his house/office was being used as the epicenter for the commission of the aforesaid offences in which murder of one Ankit Sharma is a sequel. On the rooftop of petitioner’s house/building objects like stones, bricks, petrol bombs, acid drums etc. were recovered which were used during the riots, as per material on record. It has come on record in the order impugned that many material witnesses, especially in connection with the present FIR No. 65 of 2020 are yet to be examined.

8. In the aforesaid facts and circumstances and keeping in mind the submissions of Sh. Siddharth Aggarwal, learned senior counsel for the petitioner, who has limited/confined his a