Umar Khalid. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
The Supreme Court on Monday (September 22, 2025) sought the Delhi Police’s response on the bail pleas of activists Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider and Shifa Ur Rehman in the larger conspiracy case linked to the 2020 Delhi riots.A Bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N.V. Anjaria issued notice and fixed the hearing for October 27, even as the petitioners’ counsels pressed for an earlier date.Appearing for Mr. Khalid, senior advocate Kapil Sibal pressed for an earlier date. “Before Diwali, so that they can be out by Diwali. They have been in custody for more than five years,” he submitted.
Also read | Five years of jail haven’t broken son’s spirit: Umar Khalid’s fatherSenior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Ms. Fatima, submitted that she was a student who had been behind bars for over five years. He pointed out that she had also moved an application for interim bail and urged the court to issue notice on it as well.Justice Kumar, however, remarked, “We will finally dispose of the main petition itself.”The petitioners are among nine accused whose bail pleas were rejected by the Delhi High Court on September 2. A Division Bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur (since retired) had held that the accused played “prima facie grave” roles in the alleged conspiracy.Alongside the five petitioners, the High Court had denied bail to activists Khalid Saifi, Athar Khan, Mohd. Saleem Khan, and Shadab Ahmed, endorsing the prosecution’s claim that the riots were not “a regular protest” but a “premeditated, well-orchestrated conspiracy.” The bail plea of another accused, Tasleem Ahmed, was rejected separately on the same day.At the outset of the hearing, Justice Kumar apologised for the matter not being taken up on September 19. While no reasons were recorded in the order, he explained that the case could not proceed as his puisne colleague on the earlier Bench, Justice Manmohan, had recused citing his past association with Mr. Sibal’s chamber. Earlier, on September 12, the hearing had also been deferred after Justice Kumar noted that the voluminous case records had reached the judges’ residences only after midnight.‘Pre-trial incarceration’The accused face charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code. The Delhi Police, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad, have alleged that the activists were the “intellectual architects” of the violence, which left 53 people dead and over 700 injured in February 2020, during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens.“If the exercise of an unfettered right to protest were permitted, it would damage the constitutional framework and impinge upon law and order. Conspiratorial violence under the garb of protests cannot be permitted”, the High Court said in its 133-page verdict. It also observed that the riots were “deliberately timed” to coincide with the visit of then U.S. President Donald Trump, and therefore could not be “lightly brushed aside.”Mr. Imam, the first to move the Supreme Court, has argued that more than five years of pre-trial incarceration amounts to punishment without trial. Mr. Khalid, arrested on September 13, 2020, has similarly urged the court to consider his prolonged detention, noting that the trial remains far from conclusion with dozens of witnesses still to be examined.The petitioners have also sought parity with fellow activists Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, and Asif Iqbal Tanha, who were granted bail in June 2021. The High Court, however, distinguished their cases, noting that while the right to protest is constitutionally protected, the alleged conspiratorial violence attributed to Imam and Khalid was prima facie of a more serious nature. Published - September 22, 2025 03:51 pm IST
