New Delhi: Observing that the “ship has sailed,” Delhi High Court Tuesday refused to grant default bail to Jasir Bilal Wani alias Danish, one of the accused in the 2025 Red Fort car bomb blast that killed 15 people.An accused becomes entitled to default bail if the investigating agency fails to file a chargesheet within the stipulated time.Wani claimed the period ended 90 days from his arrest.Dismissing Wani’s appeal challenging a March 30 trial court order rejecting his bail, HC underlined that Wani was not legally entitled to default bail after 90 days as the permissible detention period under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the anti-terror law, was up to 180 days.A bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Vikas Mahajan pointed out that “as of now, even the chargesheet has been filed on 14th May, 2026. Thus, at this stage, the appellant cannot seek to challenge that he was entitled to default bail after the period of 90 days as in the opinion of this court, that ship has sailed.”NIA arrested Wani, a native of Kashmir, accused of being an active co-conspirator, on Nov 17, 2025. The agency has alleged that he provided technical support for carrying out terror attacks by modifying drones and attempting to make rockets. It has claimed that he worked closely with suicide bomber Umar un Nabi in planning the Red Fort blast. A Hyundai i20 car exploded near Red Fort at 6.52 pm on Nov 10, 2025, killing 15 people and injuring several others.Other than seeking default bail after expiry of 90 days from his arrest, Wani in his appeal also assailed the trial court’s Feb and March orders permitting 180 days to NIA to conclude the investigation.Dealing with the argument, the HC said the purpose behind increased detention under UAPA was to provide a longer period of detention for heinous offences such as terrorism. Thus, the intention of the special law, i.e., UAPA, shall prevail over the general law, i.e., Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), which makes an accused entitled to default bail in 90 days for offences punishable with death, life imprisonment, or more than 10 years of jail, the court held.It also observed that Wani chose to challenge the extension of the investigation period only after the second extension was granted and his application seeking default bail was dismissed. He, therefore, lost the right to subsequently challenge the first extension and seek default bail on this basis, the court said.
