Delhi riots: SC adjourns Umar Khalid’s bail plea scheduled for July 24 after Delhi police seeks time to file response

New Delhi [India], July 12 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing for July 24 on the bail plea filed by former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student and activist Umar Khalid in a UAPA case related to the alleged conspiracy behind the North-East Delhi riots in February 2020.

A bench of Justices AS Bopanna and MM Sundresh adjourned the hearing after the counsel appearing for Delhi Police sought time to file a response on Khalid’s bail plea.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for Khalid told the bench that he has been inside jail for over two years and eleven months now.

Advocate Rajat Nair appearing for Delhi police said chargesheets run in thousands of pages and investigating agency needs some reasonable time to file a reply.

Khalid had approached the top court challenging an October 2022 Delhi High Court verdict that had denied bail to him.

Khalid, arrested by Delhi Police in September 2020, in the High Court had sought bail on grounds that he neither had any "criminal role" in the violence in the city's North-East area nor any "conspiratorial connect" with any other accused in the case. The Delhi police had opposed the bail plea of Khalid.

Khalid had approached the High Court challenging the dismissal of his bail application by the trial court in March 2022.

He was charged with criminal conspiracy, rioting, unlawful assembly as well as several sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

Besides Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, activist Khalid Saifi, JNU students Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and several others were booked under the stringent law in the case.

The violence had erupted during the protests against CAA and NRC and had left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.