2020 Delhi riots: SC to hear bail pleas of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and Gulfisha on Friday

The Supreme Court will on Friday take up petitions filed by activists Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and Gulfisha Fatima, challenging a Delhi High Court’s September 2 order refusing them bail in the larger conspiracy case linked to the 2020 north-east Delhi riots.

Their petitions of the three accused booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 – an anti-terror law — are listed before a bench of Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice NV Anjaria on September 12.

A bench led by Justice Naveen Chawla of the high court had also denied bail pleas of co-accused Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa Ur Rehman, Athar Khan, Meeran Haider, Shadab Ahmed and Abdul Khalid Saifi.  The bail plea of another co-accused Tasleem Ahmed was dismissed by another Delhi High Court bench led by Justice Subramonium Prasad.

The high court denied them bail, saying “conspiratorial” violence under the garb of demonstrations or protests by citizens couldn’t be allowed.

The accused are facing charges of criminal conspiracy, sedition, promoting enmity between various groups, making statements conducing to public mischief under the IPC and Section 13 of the UAPA, 1967 for allegedly questioning the sovereignty, unity, or territorial integrity of India and causing disaffection against it.

Besides the UAPA, the were also booked under certain provisions of the IPC for allegedly being the “masterminds” of the “larger conspiracy” behind the February 2020 Delhi riots during the visit of the then US President Donald Trump that claimed 53 lives and left more than 700 injured. The violence had erupted during the protests against Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Khalid was arrested in September 2020 while Fatima was arrested on April 9, 2020 and Imam was arrested on January 28, 2020 from Jehanabad in Bihar. They have been in jail for more than five years.

In June 2020, accused Safoora Zargar was granted bail on account of her pregnancy while in June 2021, the high court gave bail to three other accused — Asif Iqbal Tanha, Devangana Kalita, and Natasha Narwal on merits.

The Delhi High Court rejected the bail pleas of the remaining accused on September 2, saying they did not deserve parity with the co-accused already released on bail.

“It is trite in law that merely because co-accused persons have been granted bail, would not, by itself, entitle the other accused to bail; there are other considerations and factors which weigh in for considering parity,” the high court had said, adding “the ground of parity is not made out in favour of the appellants”.

The high court had held that the Constitution affords citizens the right to protest and carry out demonstrations or agitations, provided they are orderly, peaceful and without arms and such actions must be within the bounds of law.

Besides demanding parity with co-accused Kalita and Narwal, the 10 accused had also sought bail on the ground that they have been in jail for over five years and the trial was likely to take more time to conclude.

However, the high court rejected their second argument as well. “With respect to the argument of delay and prolonged incarceration… the present case involves complex issues, and the trial is progressing at a natural pace,” it said.