New Delhi, Jan 5: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the bail pleas of activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case, while granting bail to five other accused, citing a clear difference in the nature and level of alleged involvement.
A bench of Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice N.V. Anjaria said Khalid and Imam stood on a “qualitatively different footing” compared to the remaining accused. “The record discloses that all the appellants do not stand on equal footing as regards culpability,” the bench observed.
“The hierarchy of participation requires the court to assess each application individually. This exercise does not dismantle the prosecution case of conspiracy,” the judges said, while dismissing the bail pleas of Khalid and Imam.
The five accused granted bail are Gulfisha Fatima, Meera Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, Md Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmed.
All seven accused have been in custody for over five years under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, in connection with the February 2020 violence in northeast Delhi that left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.
The court had reserved its verdict on December 10 after hearing separate bail petitions filed by the accused.
The case has also drawn international attention in recent weeks, with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and a group of US lawmakers writing letters seeking a fair and timely trial for Khalid.
Delhi Police have alleged that the accused were part of a larger criminal conspiracy behind the riots, which erupted amid protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens.
