New Delhi, 17/August/2023: Former JNU Scholar Umar Khalid’s bail application, scheduled to be heard by the Supreme Court today in relation to the Delhi violence larger conspiracy case, has been removed from the day’s proceedings. The application was listed to appear before Justices AS Bopanna and PK Mishra, but it appears to have been withdrawn due to a previous recusal by Justice PK Mishra last week.
In the previous hearing, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra of the Supreme Court had stepped back from presiding over Umar Khalid’s petition for bail in a UAPA case tied to the ‘conspiracy’ behind the February 2020 communal violence in Delhi, resulting in 53 deaths and over 700 injuries. The matter was then directed to be presented before a different bench.
“This will come before some other bench. There is some difficulty on the part of my brother [Justice Mishra],” Justice Bopanna said, according to Livelaw.
During the most recent session, Justice Bopanna explained that the case would need to be reassigned to another bench, indicating difficulties for his colleague, Justice Mishra, in handling the matter. Although no specific reasons for Justice Mishra’s recusal were given, the Delhi Police counsel Rajat Nair mentioned that certain portions of statements had been extracted in a vernacular language, leading to an objection by the court’s Registry. Nair stated his intention to file the relevant section of the chargesheet in the case.
The Supreme Court had earlier requested the Delhi Police to respond to Khalid’s petition, challenging the Delhi High Court’s decision to deny him bail. The Delhi Police had previously requested an extension to file their response to Khalid’s plea.
In an October 18, 2022 order, the high court had rejected Khalid’s bail plea, citing ongoing contact with other co-accused and asserting that the allegations against him appeared prima facie true. These actions were deemed to qualify as a “terrorist act” under the anti-terror law UAPA.
Khalid has been in jail for more than 1000 days now, and has been charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
