Delhi riots: SC defers bail pleas of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Gulfisha to 19 September

The Supreme Court on Friday, 12 September, adjourned till 19 September the hearing on bail pleas filed by activists Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Gulfisha Fatima, and Meeran Haider in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) case linked to the alleged conspiracy behind the February 2020 Delhi riots.

A bench of justices Aravind Kumar and N.V. Anjaria noted that it had received the case files very late, prompting the deferment.

The four activists have challenged the Delhi High Court’s September 2 order denying bail to nine accused, including Khalid and Imam. The high court had observed that “conspiratorial” violence under the guise of protests could not be permitted, even while acknowledging the constitutional right to peaceful assembly and free speech.

The bail pleas of others—Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa Ur Rehman, Athar Khan, Abdul Khalid Saifi, and Shadab Ahmed—were also dismissed by the high court earlier this month. A separate bench rejected the plea of accused Tasleem Ahmed the same day.

While stressing that the Constitution protects the right to protest, the high court ruled that such freedoms are not absolute and must be subject to reasonable restrictions to prevent a breakdown of law and order.

Khalid, Imam, Fatima, Haider, and the other accused — described by investigators as “masterminds” of the 2020 riots — were booked under the UAPA and various sections of the IPC. The communal violence, which erupted amid protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), left 53 dead and over 700 injured.

The activists, who have been in jail since 2020, maintain their innocence and argue that they were exercising their democratic right to dissent.

With PTI inputs