Delhi riots case: SC defers bail pleas of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam to Sept 19
Delhi riots case: SC defers bail pleas of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam to Sept 19
M.U.H
12/09/202542
The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned to September 19 the hearing on the bail pleas of student activist Sharjeel Imam, former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) scholar Umar Khalid and other accused in the larger conspiracy case linked to the 2020 Delhi riots.
A bench of justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria said it was unable to go through the files which arrived past midnight at their residences. The pleas were filed challenging the September 2 order of the Delhi high court denying them bail.
Deferring the matter by a week, the bench said, “We received the files in these matters at 2.30 am,” referring to the case files of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Gulfisha Fatima and Meeran Haider.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared for Imam while senior advocate Kapil Sibal represented Khalid.
“Four matters are listed today before the court. They all arise from the same high court judgment,” Sibal said.
On September 2, a Delhi HC bench of justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur (since retired) dismissed the bail pleas of the nine accused, holding that their roles in the conspiracy “prima facie appeared grave”. Besides Khalid and Imam, the high court denied bail to seven others including Fatima, Haider, United Against Hate founder Khalid Saifi, Athar Khan, Mohd Saleem, Shifa-ur-Rehman, and Shadab Ahmed. The high court detailed their individual roles in the conspiracy and rejected their bail pleas for offences under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), 1972.
Imam, who was the first to file the appeal against the September 2 order, has sought bail citing that since his arrest on January 28, 2020, he has spent five years and six months in pre-trial detention. Khalid, too, has taken the prolonged incarceration plea as a ground of bail citing his arrest on September 13, 2020.
Imam in his petition filed through advocate Fauzia Shakil, states delay in trial as a main ground for bail, citing the fact that the police have filed multiple supplementary charge sheets and have listed dozens of witnesses, with there being no indication of when the proceedings may conclude. It also emphasises that long incarceration of undertrials in cases under the UAPA raises serious constitutional questions under constitutional provisions related to equal protection before law, right to free speech, right to speedy trial and liberty.
Challenging the 133-page decision of the high court, the accused said that they have remained in jail due to systemic delays in the trial, which is beyond their control. According to them, the pre-trial detention cannot amount to punishing an undertrial when past decisions of the court have upheld that liberty of an undertrial is paramount.
The Delhi Police had charged the accused under UAPA, alleging that Khalid and Imam were the main conspirators in mobilising opposition against the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), after it was passed by Parliament in December 2019.
The high court had relied on the extensive material produced by the Delhi police showing how Khalid and Imam were involved in creation of WhatsApp groups, distribution of pamphlets, and speeches allegedly delivered on communal lines. The Delhi Police, represented by solicitor general Tushar Mehta and special public prosecutor Amit Prasad, had described them as the “intellectual architects” of the conspiracy.
The riots coincided with the visit of then US President Donald Trump to Delhi. The police alleged that it was done to publicise before the global community that minorities were allegedly being targeted and discriminated against in India.
