Delhi riots case: Supreme Court refuses bail to Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam

The Supreme Court on Monday denied bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in a case pertaining to an alleged larger conspiracy behind the 2020 northeast Delhi riotsHowever the SC granted bail to Gulfisha Fatima Meeran Haider Shifa Ur Rehman Mohd Saleem Khan and Shadab AhmadThe Court noted that Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam stand on a qualitatively different footing both in terms of prosecution and evidenceIt noted that their roles were central to the alleged offencesAs regards these two though the period of incarceration is continued and long it does not violate the Constitutional mandate or override the statutory embargo under the lawsThe SC bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria delivered the judgment on the bail pleas filed by Gulfisha Fatima Meeran Haider Shifa Ur Rehman Mohd Saleem Khan and Shadab AhmedEarlier the apex court had reserved its verdict on December 10 after hearing detailed arguments from all partiesDuring the hearing of their pleas seeking bail the advocates who appeared for them mostly argued on the delay and the unlikelihood of the commencement of the trialIt was also stated to the court that they have been under custody for over five years in a case in which they are facing serious allegations of committing offences under the UAPAThe contentions were also made that there is no proof of violence that they instigated the riots even after five years have passedOn the other hand Delhi Police objected to the bail pleas saying the alleged offences involved a deliberate attempt to destabilise the stateIt argued that these were not spontaneous protests but a wellorchestrated panIndia conspiracy aiming at regime change and economic strangulationThe Delhi Police further submitted that the conspiracy was allegedly planned to coincide with the official visit of the then US President to India with the intention of drawing international media attention and globalising the issue of the Citizenship Amendment Act CAAThe issue of CAA was carefully chosen to serve as a radicalising catalyst camouflaged in the name of peaceful protest it had saidThe prosecution further stated that the deeprooted premeditated and preplanned conspiracy hatched by the petitioners resulted in the death of 53 persons largescale damage to public property leading to registration of 753 FIRS in Delhi aloneEvidence on record suggests that the instant conspiracy was sought to be replicated and executed PAN India the Delhi police saidOn September 2 2025 the Delhi High Court rejected the bail plea of nine accused including Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in connection with the case prompting the defendants to move to the Supreme CourtThe High Court had observed that prima facie the role of Imam and Khalid in the entire conspiracy was grave having delivered inflammatory speeches on communal lines to instigate mass mobilisation of members of the Muslim communityUmar Khalid Sharjeel Imam and others were arrested in January 2020 under the stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act UAPA in the Delhi riots case in February 2020The violence had erupted during the protests against the thenproposed Citizenship Amendment Act CAA and National Register of Citizens NRC and had left 53 people dead and over 700 injuredThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever