Supreme Court To Hear Umar Khalid's Bail Plea In Delhi Riots Larger Conspiracy Case After Two Weeks

A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela Trivedi was hearing Khalid’s special leave petition challenging the decision of the Delhi High Court to deny him bail last year. As soon as the matter was taken, Justice Bose told Khalid's lawyer Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal that the matter will have to be heard on a non-miscellaneous day Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are non-miscellaneous days, when hearing matters are taken). Sibal agreed to Justice Bose's suggestion. Accordingly, the matter was posted after two weeks.

Last week, a bench of Justices AS Bopanna and Prashant Kumar Mishra was slated to hear Khalid’s plea, but the hearing was adjourned because Justice Mishra recused himself from the case. This was the third adjournment. The top court issued notice in the activist's plea on May 18, after which the bail hearing was adjourned twice – once on July 12 after the Delhi police sought more time to file a counter-affidavit, and again on July 24 after a letter of adjournment was circulated by Khalid's counsel. Khalid has spent over two years and eleven months under incarceration now.

Background

Khalid, a former scholar and researcher from Jawaharlal Nehru University, is one of the accused in the larger conspiracy case relating to the 2020 North-East Delhi communal riots case. He has been accused along with 59 others, including Pinjra Tod members Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal, Jamia Millia Islamia student Asif Iqbal Tanha, and student activist Gulfisha Fatima.

Others who have been charge-sheeted in the case include former Congress councillor Ishrat Jahan, Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, Meeran Haider, and Shifa-Ur-Rehman, former Aam Aadmi Party councillor Tahir Hussain, activist Khalid Saifi, Shadab Ahmed, Tasleem Ahmed, Mohd Salim Khan, and Athar Khan.

Khalid and JNU student Sharjeel Imam were the last to be charge-sheeted in the case. Zargar, Kalita, Narwal, Tanha, and Jahan have already been granted bail. Kalita, Narwhal, and Tanha were granted bail by a division bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani last year.

Khalid has been booked under Sections 13, 16, 17, and 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, Sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act, 1959, and Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984.

Last year, in October, the Delhi High Court upheld a March 2022 order of a trial court denying Khalid bail. A division bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar observed that the protests against Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA) were geared towards the 2020 North-East Delhi riots through various ‘conspiratorial meetings’ held from December 2019 till February 2020, some of which were also attended by Khalid.

In the order, the high court also took a serious view of Khalid using the words ‘inquilabli salam’ (revolutionary salute) and ‘krantikari istiqbal’ (revolutionary welcome) in a speech given in Amaravati in February 2020, considering it to be an incitement of violence. “Revolution by itself isn’t always bloodless, which is why it is contradistinctly used with the prefix - a ‘bloodless’ revolution. So, when we use the expression ‘revolution’, it is not necessarily bloodless,” the Delhi High Court observed. During the case, the bench also questioned the UAPA accused for using the world ‘jumla’ against the prime minister, remarking that there should be a ‘lakshman rekha’ for criticism.

Khalid challenged the Delhi High Court’s verdict before the Supreme Court and in May of this year, a bench headed by Justice Bopanna issued notice in his plea. Earlier that month, another bench of the apex court had dismissed Delhi police’s plea against a high court order granting bail to co-accused Asif Iqbal Tanha, Natasha Narwal, and Devangana Kalita.

Case Title

Umar Khalid v. State of NCT of Delhi | Special Leave Petition (Criminal) No. 6857 of 2023