Delhi High Court grants bail to UAPA detainee after eight years behind bars

The Delhi High Court, sitting as a bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja, granted bail to Mohammad Saqib after he spent eight years in custody following his 2018 arrest under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, the Explosive Substances Act and the Indian Penal Code. The judges highlighted that the prosecution had examined merely 40 of the 120 listed witnesses and were “moved, particularly by the long period of incarceration.”

While the National Investigation Agency argued that the trial delay should not justify release, the court found the existing witness statements insufficient to justify continued detention. Saqib’s bail is subject to strict conditions: he must stay within Hapur, travel to Delhi only for trial proceedings, report to the NIA office in Lucknow every 15 days, surrender his passport, and use only one approved phone or landline, with any change in residence or contact details to be reported in advance. The court also barred him from sharing any “anti-national material” on social media.