New Delhi: Activist Umar Khalid has approached the Supreme Court, challenging a recent Delhi High Court order that denied him bail in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) case related to the alleged conspiracy behind the February 2020 communal riots in the national capital.
On September 2, the Delhi High Court had dismissed bail pleas for Khalid and eight other accused, including activist Sharjeel Imam. The court’s verdict stated that violence “under the garb of demonstrations or protests” cannot be allowed, emphasizing that the constitutional right to protest under Article 19(1)(a) is not absolute and is subject to “reasonable restrictions.” The bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur noted that an “unfettered right to protest” could harm the constitutional framework and disrupt law and order.
This is not the first time the accused have sought bail. Their pleas were first rejected by trial courts, leading them to approach the High Court. Khalid, Imam, and the other accused—Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa Ur Rehman, Athar Khan, Meeran Haider, Abdul Khalid Saifi, Gulfisha Fatima, and Shadab Ahmed—have been in custody since 2020. They have argued that they have spent over four years in custody without the trial concluding and have sought bail on the grounds of parity with co-accused Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, and Asif Iqbal Tanha, who were granted bail in 2021.
However, the Delhi Police have consistently opposed the bail pleas, maintaining that the riots were not a “spontaneous” event but a “well-planned, well-orchestrated conspiracy” intended to create communal discord and embarrass India on the global stage. Appearing for the police, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad argued that the seriousness of the charges under UAPA necessitates their continued detention.
Khalid and the other co-accused have consistently denied all allegations, labeling the case as politically motivated. The February 2020 Delhi riots, which erupted during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC), resulted in the deaths of 53 people and left more than 700 injured.
Last week, both Sharjeel Imam and Gulfisha Fatima also moved the Supreme Court to appeal the High Court’s decision, making Khalid’s petition the latest in a series of legal challenges against the recent bail rejection.