The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned till September 19 the bail pleas of Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid and seven others accused under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in connection with the alleged conspiracy behind the February 2020 Delhi riots.
A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N.V. Anjaria said the case files had been received late, prompting the adjournment.
The pleas were filed by Imam, Khalid, Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa-Ur-Rehman, Athar Khan, Meeran Haider, Shadab Ahmed, Khalid Saifi, and Gulfisha Fatima. Earlier this month, the Delhi High Court had rejected their bail petitions, following which Imam and Khalid separately approached the apex court.
Imam, a former JNU student, was arrested in January 2020 from Bihar’s Jehanabad for alleged inflammatory speeches at Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University. He faces multiple FIRs across states, including Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, and Arunachal Pradesh, under sedition and UAPA charges. While some courts have granted him bail in related cases, he remains in custody in the Delhi conspiracy case.
Khalid, also a former JNU student and activist, has been lodged in jail since September 14, 2020. Booked under UAPA, he has consistently denied involvement in the riots, maintaining that he had no “criminal role” or “conspiratorial connect.” His bail plea was earlier rejected by the Delhi High Court in October 2022.
The February 2020 violence, which broke out during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), claimed 53 lives and left hundreds injured. The Delhi Police alleges that Imam, Khalid, and others were part of a larger conspiracy to incite the unrest.
