New Delhi, Jan 5 — The Supreme Court on Monday declined to grant bail to activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case, while allowing bail to five other accused, holding that their alleged roles were not comparable.
A bench comprising Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice N.V. Anjaria said Khalid and Imam stood on a “qualitatively different footing” from the remaining accused. “The record discloses that all the appellants do not stand on equal footing as regards culpability,” the bench said.
The court said that while prolonged pre-trial incarceration requires scrutiny under Article 21, the assessment of individual roles did not undermine the prosecution’s case of conspiracy. “The hierarchy of participation requires the court to assess each application individually,” the judges observed while rejecting the bail pleas of Khalid and Imam.
Bail was granted to Gulfisha Fatima, Meera Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, Md Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmed, all of whom are facing charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, and provisions of the Indian Penal Code.
The seven accused have been lodged in jail for more than five years in connection with the February 2020 violence in northeast Delhi, which claimed 53 lives and left over 700 people injured.
The Supreme Court had reserved its verdict on December 10 after hearing separate bail petitions filed by the accused.
The case has also attracted international attention, with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and a group of US lawmakers recently writing to Indian authorities 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 broke out amid protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens.