Despite “High On Board” Listing, Umar Khalid's Bail Plea Won’t Be Heard In SC Today
On February 1, the Supreme Court postponed the hearing of former JNU scholar and activist Umar Khalid”s bail plea in connection with the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case. The bench comprising Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal couldn”t address the matter and rescheduled it for February 7.
Unfortunately, Khalid’s bail application won’t be considered today either.
According to a tweet from Live Law on February 6, “Umar Khalid’s bail application in #SupremeCourt, though directed to be listed tomorrow (Feb 7), won’t be heard as Justice Bela Trivedi is in a 7-judge Constitution Bench hearing tomorrow.”
Journalist and political commentator Swati Chaturvedi also remarked on X (formerly Twitter), “Umar Khalid’s bail plea won’t be heard again today by the Supreme Court. Yes, the same Court that tells us that bail is the norm & jail the exception.”
Earlier, on January 10, the top court deferred it for a “final” hearing to January 24. However, on January 24, the bench couldn”t hear the matter as it was sitting in a different configuration post-lunch. Consequently, the court postponed the matter to January 31, keeping it “high on board.”
On January 31, the court didn”t address it in the first half. Subsequently, after lunch, the court scheduled the matter for today”s hearing.
Umar Khalid has been in jail in connection with a case filed under the anti-terror law UAPA, regarding his purported involvement in the conspiracy behind the northeast Delhi riots of February 2020.
The case was listed alongside a batch of petitions challenging various provisions of the UAPA. Khalid”s petition contesting the Delhi High Court”s October 18, 2022 order, which dismissed his bail plea, was up for hearing before a bench of Justices AS Bopanna and Mishra.
The high court had turned down Khalid’s bail plea, asserting that he maintained constant contact with other co-accused, and the allegations against him were prima facie true. It also remarked that the actions of the accused prima facie qualified as a “terrorist act” under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Khalid, along with Sharjeel Imam and several others, has been charged under the contentious anti-terror law UAPA and various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for allegedly being the “masterminds” behind the February 2020 riots, which resulted in 53 fatalities and over 700 injuries. The violence had erupted during the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Arrested by the Delhi Police in September 2020, Khalid sought bail on the grounds that he neither played a criminal role in the violence nor had any “conspiratorial connect” with any other accused in the case. However, the Delhi Police opposed Khalid’s bail plea in the high court, contending that his speech was “very calculated,” raising contentious issues such as Babri Masjid, triple talaq, Kashmir, the alleged suppression of Muslims, and the CAA and NRC.
