New Delhi: The Delhi High Court, on Tuesday, denied bail to activists and former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and seven others in connection with the 2020 Delhi riots larger conspiracy case.
The bench of Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Shalinder Kaur dismissed the bail pleas of Khalid, Imam, Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa Ur Rehman, Athar Khan, Meeran Haider, Shadab Ahmed, Abdul Khalid Saifi and Gulfisha Fatima during the day.
The bail pleas of Imam and Khalid have been pending since 2022. Khalid was arrested in September 2020 and has been in jail since then. In December 2024, he was granted interim bail of 7-days to attend a wedding in his family.
Earlier, a separate bench of the High Court had dismissed the bail plea of another accused, Tasleem Ahmed, in connection with the same case.
Their lawyer said that the order would be challenged in the Supreme Court.
Imam and Khalid were accused of being part of a larger conspiracy that led to the communal violence in northeast Delhi in February 2020 over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The violence left over 50 dead and more than 700 injured.
Khalid, Imam, and others have been accused of masterminding the violence by the Delhi Police. The activists were charged under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or UAPA.
During the hearing, the activists argued that they had already spent more than four years in custody and cited the trial’s slow pace in seeking bail.
However, the prosecution, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, opposed their bail, arguing that the riots were planned in advance with a sinister motive and were a “well-thought-out conspiracy”.
SG Mehta further contended that it was a conspiracy to defame India on a global level. “If you do anything against your nation, you better be in jail till you are acquitted,” he argued.
During the hearing, Khalid submitted that merely being on WhatsApp groups with other co-accused was no criminality. He also said that there was no recovery of any incriminating materials or money from him.
Imam, meanwhile, contended that he was disconnected from all the co-accused, including Khalid, and was not part of any kind of conspiracy as alleged by the Delhi Police. He argued that his speeches and WhatsApp chats never called for any unrest.
