Tahir Hussain gets 12-hr daily parole to campaign for polls

The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted custody parole to former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Mohammad Tahir Hussain permitting him to come out of jail to campaign for 12 hours every day beginning Wednesday till February 3, on the strength of an undertaking that he would bear the expenses associated with such custody, estimated at a little over ₹2 lakh per day.

- Abraham Thomas

NEW DELHI:

The order of the court came on a plea filed by Hussain seeking interim bail till February 4 in one of the cases against him in connection with the 2020 northeast Delhi riots where he is accused of instigating the murder of an Intelligence Bureau (IB) staffer Ankit Sharma. He sought permission to canvas for votes in the Delhi assembly polls to be held on February 5 as an All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) candidate from Mustafabad constituency.

A three-judge bench headed by justice Vikram Nath said, "Considering the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case we issue direction that the petitioner be released for the day as per timing prescribed in the Jail Manual from January 29 till February 3 upon the deposit of all his expenses for two days... ₹2,07,429 per day approximately." These expenses included the cost of the police personnel, escort vehicle and the jail van in which Hussain will be ferried around.