A Delhi court has turned down fresh bail applications from activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the case tied to the larger conspiracy behind the 2020 northeast Delhi riots. Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai of the Karkardooma Court passed the order on Saturday, ruling that the applications could not be considered at this stage since the Supreme Court’s earlier order declining them bail was binding, and their fresh applications were not maintainable.
Khalid and Imam had approached the trial court after the Supreme Court denied them bail on January 5, 2026, arguing that their continued imprisonment, which has gone past six years, violates their right to freedom, and that little progress had been made in the trial since then. Imam’s plea specifically noted there had been no meaningful development for six months since the Supreme Court’s ruling, and pointed out that charges have still not been framed against him despite his lengthy time in custody. Khalid made similar arguments, citing the delay in his trial and his nearly six years behind bars without formal charges.
Senior Advocate Trideep Pais, representing Khalid, argued that a more recent Supreme Court judgment in a separate case had raised doubts about the reasoning used to deny his client bail earlier, and that this amounted to a change in circumstances that should let Khalid seek relief again. Imam’s lawyer, Advocate Talib Mustafa, made a related argument, pointing out that the question of whether the two men could even file fresh bail pleas was already being examined by a larger Supreme Court bench, and that other co-accused had already benefited from that pending reference.
The prosecution pushed back firmly. It argued that repeated bail applications can only proceed if there is a real and substantial change in circumstances, and said that no such change has occurred after the dismissal of the applicant’s Special Leave Petition and Review Petition. Delhi Police also argued that the Supreme Court’s earlier directions on bail remain in force unless a larger bench decides otherwise.
Judge Bajpai agreed with the prosecution’s position, holding that the fresh pleas could not be examined until the wider legal question, currently pending before a larger Supreme Court bench, is resolved. He said the court had no option but to follow the Supreme Court’s January 5 judgment denying bail to the two men, and that their applications were therefore not maintainable and stood dismissed.
The Delhi riots case stems from an FIR filed by the Delhi Police Special Cell, alleging that Khalid, Imam and several others were part of a wider conspiracy behind the violence that broke out in northeast Delhi in February 2020 during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens. The unrest left 53 people dead and around 700 injured. Both men have been held under the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act since their arrest and remain in judicial custody as the trial continues.
