Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and other accused are seeking bail after five years in jail as undertrials
NEW DELHI — The Supreme Court on Monday has deferred the hearing of the bail petitions of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, and five other student leaders booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in the 2020 Delhi Riots conspiracy case to December 2, The Hindu reports.
They have challenged a Delhi High Court order that denied them bail.
In an earlier hearing on Friday, November 21, 2025, the Delhi Police vehemently opposed bail pleas filed by Khalid and others claiming that they are only citing the Constitution to obtain bail.
According to a report in The Hindu, the police argued that Khalid and the others were invoking constitutional rights only to secure bail, while the material against them, they claimed, showed a serious threat to national security.
Represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, the Delhi Police told the bench of Justice Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria that the riots were far from spontaneous. Instead, the violence was the result of a well-orchestrated, pre-planned assault on national security, they argued.
ASG Raju, citing statements from a protected witness, claimed that conspirators planned violence, orchestrated chakka jams to disrupt and “choke Assam out of India,” and mobilised rioters armed with sticks to engage in heavy stone-throwing.
In a particularly shocking moment, the prosecution emphasised that individuals like Khalid and Imam were “intellectual terrorists” who allegedly shaped discourse and planning.
It further stated that the Anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests, in which the defendants were actively involved, were not a peaceful act of dissent — but rather, “was for regime change…like in Nepal and Bangladesh.”
In contrast, the defence challenged the weight of the evidence, insisting that there was no direct proof linking many of the accused to violent acts during the riots. They also highlighted the extended undertrial detention, as both Khalid and Imam have been in custody for over five years.
