Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam have been in jail without a trial for more than five years now
NEW DELHI — Student activist Umar Khalid, whose bail plea was rejected by the Supreme Court on Monday in connection with the alleged 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy, said he is elated by the relief granted to his co-accused, while remarking that “jail has become his life.”
In a post on X, Umar’s partner Banojyotsna Lahiri quoted him as saying “…this is life now,” after the top court pronounced the verdict, as reported by TNIE.
Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, both activists and former scholars at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), were denied bail by the Supreme Court, which noted that the evidence indicated a prima facie case against them under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
"I am really happy for the others, who got bail! So relieved", Umar said.
— banojyotsna … (@banojyotsna) January 5, 2026
"I'll come tomorrow for Mulaqat", I replied.
"Good good, aa jana. Ab yahi zindagi hai".#UmarKhalid
The top court, however, ordered the release of five other activists and co-accused in the case — Gulfisha Fatima, Meera Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, Mohd. Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmed.
“‘I am really happy for the others, who got bail! So relieved’,” Umar was quoted as saying by Banojyotsna in her X post.
When she informed him that she would come to meet him the next day in jail, Umar replied, “Good good, aa jana. Ab yahi zindagi hai’(Good, do come, this is life now).”
Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam have been in jail without any trial for more than five years now.
Refusing to grant bail to the activists, the SC observed that the prosecution materials prima facie disclosed that Umar and Sharjeel played a “central and formative role” in the alleged offences, attracting the statutory restrictions. The court said it was not persuaded that the continued period of incarceration had crossed the threshold required under Section 43D(5) of the UAPA to warrant the grant of bail.
A two-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Aravind Kumar and also comprising Justice NV Anjaria, pronounced the verdict in the appeals filed by all the accused persons in the case.
