SC issues notice to Delhi Police on bail pleas of Umar Khalid, Imam, two others

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Delhi Police on bail pleas of student activists Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Gulfisha Fatima and Meeran Haider arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act-1967 in the larger conspiracy case linked to the 2020 north-east Delhi riots.

Asking the Delhi Police to respond to the petitions filed by the accused challenging the Delhi High Court’s order denying them bail, a Bench of Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice NV Anjaria posted the matter for hearing on October 7.

As petitioners’ counsel said the accused had been in jail for over five years, the Bench said, “Yes, we will hear you and dispose it of...." The accused were represented by senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Siddharth Dave.

“Please hear this before Diwali so that we can be out before Diwali," Sibal said. “Shocking that a student has to be behind bars for five years,” Singhvi submitted.

A Delhi High Court Bench led by Justice Naveen Chawla had on September 2 denied them bail, saying “conspiratorial” violence under the garb of demonstrations or protests by citizens couldn't be allowed. The high court had also dismissed 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 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 for allegedly questioning the sovereignty, unity or territorial integrity of the country and causing disaffection against it.

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

Khalid was arrested in September 2020, Fatima on April 9, 2020, and Imam on January 28, 2020, from Jehanabad in Bihar. Meeran, who was arrested in April 2020, was granted 10-day interim bail in August 2024 on humanitarian grounds. 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 merit.

On September 2 this year, the Delhi High Court turned down bail pleas of 10 accused, including Khalid, Imam, Fatima and Haider, saying they did not deserve parity with the co-accused already released on bail. Besides demanding parity with co-accused Kalita and Narwal, the 10 accused had also sought bail on the grounds that they had 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.