New Delhi: A Delhi court on Saturday dismissed the regular bail pleas of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the larger conspiracy case related to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, ruling that it was bound by the Supreme Court's January 5, 2026 order rejecting their bail and that the fresh applications were not maintainable.
Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai of the Karkardooma Court said the Supreme Court had permitted the accused to renew their bail pleas only after the examination of protected prosecution witnesses or after one year from its January 5 order, whichever came earlier. Since neither condition had been met, the trial court said it could not entertain the applications.
The defence argued that circumstances had changed since the Supreme Court's order. It cited the apex court's judgment in the Syed Iftikhar Andrabi case, which questioned aspects of an earlier ruling, and referred to the recent six-month interim bail granted to co-accused Tasleem Ahmed and Khalid Saifi after the Supreme Court referred the legal issue to a larger Bench. Umar Khalid's counsel also relied on a Delhi High Court ruling granting bail to Khurram Parvez due to prolonged incarceration, noting that Khalid had spent over six years in custody.
The prosecution opposed the pleas, arguing that the Supreme Court had already rejected the bail petitions and dismissed Khalid's review petition in April, with no substantial change in circumstances. Accepting this argument, the court said it could not reconsider the issue while the legal question concerning prolonged incarceration and bail under Section 43D(5) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) remained pending before a larger Bench.
The case concerns the alleged larger conspiracy behind the communal violence in northeast Delhi in February 2020. Khalid and Imam are among several accused charged under the UAPA and other penal provisions. (IANS)
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