Delhi riots case: High court rejects bail pleas Of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam

Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam denied bail by high court

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has refused to grant bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the UAPA case related to the 2020 Delhi riots.Senior Advocate Trideep Pais, appearing for Umar Khalid, submitted that there had been three “small changes in circumstances” since the earlier proceedings.

He also referred the court to a Supreme Court judgment in support of his submissions.Pais pointed out that charges have not yet been framed in the case and, consequently, prosecution witnesses are yet to be examined. The court also noted that the charges were yet to be framed.Pais further submitted that a Special Leave Petition (SLP) is pending before the Supreme Court and that the trial court has indicated it would await the Supreme Court’s order.

He then continued his submissions by referring to the Supreme Court judgment.Khalid and Imam had approached the Delhi High Court earlier this year after their bail applications were dismissed by the trial court for the third time on July 4. Imam was arrested in the case on August 25, 2020, while Khalid was arrested on September 13, 2020.The Delhi Police has opposed their bail pleas in the high court, asserting that the two were “masterminds” of the riots, PTI reported.

The police argued that they could not seek bail on parity with other co-accused, stating that the Supreme Court had earlier categorised them as being part of the “command authority” and held that their “risk profiles” justified “continuing detention”.The police also argued that the present bail pleas were in the teeth of the Supreme Court’s January 5 order, which directed them to seek release only after the examination of protected witnesses was completed or after one year, whichever was earlier.On July 4, the trial court rejected Khalid’s bail application, saying it had “no option but to follow” the Supreme Court’s January 5 order and could therefore neither entertain the plea nor grant him relief.On September 2, 2025, a Delhi High Court division bench denied bail to Khalid and Imam. The Supreme Court upheld the verdict on January 5 but granted relief to co-accused Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, Mohammad Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmad.

A bench of Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice NV Anjaria had observed that there was a prima facie case against Khalid and Imam under the UAPA.On May 22, the Supreme Court granted six months’ interim bail to co-accused Abdul Khalid Saifi and Tasleem Ahmad, while referring to a larger bench the issue of prolonged incarceration of undertrials under the UAPA due to the stringent conditions for granting bail.