Delhi High Court denies bail to Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, and others in 2020 riots conspiracy case

The Delhi High Court on September 2 rejected bail applications filed by former JNU student leaders Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, activist Gulfisha Fatima, and seven others accused in the alleged “larger conspiracy” behind the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots.

A division bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur dismissed the bail pleas of Khalid, Imam, Fatima, Athar Khan, Abdul Khalid Saifi, Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa-ur-Rehman, Meeran Haider, and Shadab Ahmed.

Another bench comprising Justices Subramonium Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar separately turned down the appeal of co-accused Tasleem Ahmed, pronouncing in open court that his plea stood dismissed. A detailed judgment is awaited.

This is the third time some of the accused have argued for bail before the High Court. Earlier hearings before other benches could not reach a conclusion after the presiding judges were elevated to Chief Justices in different High Courts.

Tasleem, arrested first in April 2020 and later booked under the conspiracy FIR, has had multiple bail pleas rejected by trial courts, which cited witness testimonies to support allegations against him.

In all, 18 people face prosecution under charges ranging from rioting and unlawful assembly to sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for allegedly orchestrating violence in Northeast Delhi between February 23 and 25, 2020. The violence claimed 53 lives and left over 700 injured.

While some co-accused — including Safoora Zargar, Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, Asif Iqbal Tanha, and former Congress councillor Ishrat Jahan — have secured bail in previous years, several remain in custody, including former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain.

The case, registered by the Delhi Police Crime Branch in March 2020 and now investigated by its Special Cell, continues to be one of the most high-profile prosecutions under the UAPA in recent years.