NEW DELHI — Days after the Delhi High Court rejected his bail plea, student activist Umar Khalid has approached the Supreme Court seeking bail in the 2020 city riots “larger conspiracy” case.
The special leave petition (SLP) filed before the apex court challenged the Delhi High Court’s order dismissing the bail pleas of Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and several others booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and other penal provisions.
Other co-accused, including Imam and Meeran Haider, have already moved the Supreme Court by filing SLPs seeking bail.
The Delhi High Court, in its order passed on September 2, observed, prima facie, that there was sufficient material on record to suggest that Imam and Khalid had masterminded the conspiracy.
A bench of Justices Shalinder Kaur and Navin Chawla noted that Khalid and Imam had allegedly delivered inflammatory speeches on February 24, 2020, coinciding with the then US President Donald Trump’s State visit, which the prosecution alleged was deliberately timed to trigger riots on February 23–24 and draw international attention.
“The alleged inflammatory and provocative speeches delivered by the appellants, when considered in totality, prima facie indicate their role in the alleged conspiracy,” the Delhi High Court said.
In May 2024, a Delhi court rejected Khalid’s bail plea seeking release on the grounds of delay in trial proceedings and parity with co-accused who were granted bail. Earlier, in April 2022, a trial court had dismissed his first bail application, a decision later upheld by the Delhi High Court. In February 2024, Khalid withdrew his SLP before the Supreme Court, citing a “change in circumstances”, and sought liberty to move the trial court afresh.
The February 2020 Delhi riots, which broke out during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), left 53 people dead and over 700 injured. –IANS
