The Delhi High Court on Tuesday rejected the bail pleas of former JNU students and activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, along with seven others, in the 2020 Delhi riots larger conspiracy case.
A bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur dismissed the bail applications of Khalid, Imam, Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa-Ur-Rehman, Athar Khan, Meeran Haider, Shadab Ahmed, Khalid Saifi and Gulfisha Fatima. The bail pleas of Khalid and Imam had been pending since 2022. Lawyers for the accused said they would move the Supreme Court against the order.
The activists are accused under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) of being part of a “larger conspiracy” that led to the February 2020 communal violence in northeast Delhi during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The riots claimed over 50 lives and left more than 700 injured.
Delhi Police have labelled Khalid, Imam and others as the “masterminds of the violence.” Khalid has been in jail since September 2020. He was briefly granted seven-day interim bail last December to attend a family wedding. Imam was arrested earlier in 2020.
During the hearings, lawyers for the activists argued that they had already spent more than four years in custody without trial. Khalid told the court that being part of WhatsApp groups with co-accused did not amount to a crime, and pointed out that no incriminating material or money was ever recovered from him. Imam argued that he was not in touch with Khalid or the other accused and that neither his speeches nor chats called for violence.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the prosecution, opposed the bail pleas. He argued that the riots were “a well-thought-out conspiracy” designed with a “sinister motive” to defame India internationally. “If you do anything against your nation, you better be in jail till you are acquitted,” Mehta said.
Earlier, a separate bench of the High Court had also rejected the bail plea of another accused in the same case, Tasleem Ahmed.
