On Tuesday, September 5th, the Supreme Court postponed the hearing for the bail plea submitted by student activist Umar Khalid. Khalid had been arrested and charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in connection with the alleged broader conspiracy related to the 2020 Delhi riots.
The bench, consisting of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Dipankar Datta, was informed that a request for an adjournment had been circulated because senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who was set to represent Khalid, was engaged in Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud's Constitution Bench, which was hearing petitions regarding the abrogation of Article 370. In response, the bench commented, "How many times? Mr. Sibal is bound to be busy. We cannot wait for any particular senior counsel." The Supreme Court clarified that this was the 'last opportunity' and scheduled the plea for a hearing in the upcoming week.
On August 18, the hearing was postponed, and the plea was rescheduled for two weeks later. Additionally, in August, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra of the Supreme Court recused himself from the case, and the plea was assigned to a different bench. Khalid had approached the Supreme Court after the Delhi High Court denied him bail.
A bench comprising Justices Siddharth Mridul and Rajnish Bhatnagar of the High Court had rejected Khalid's appeal for regular bail on October 18 of the previous year. Khalid had challenged the trial court's decision, which had denied him bail in connection with the UAPA case. The allegations against him in the riots case were based on his alleged inflammatory speeches delivered in Amaravati during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens.
According to the Delhi Police, Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, both JNU scholars and activists, are among nearly a dozen individuals implicated in the alleged broader conspiracy case connected to the 2020 Delhi riots. These riots erupted in the national capital in February 2020 during clashes between anti- and pro-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protesters, resulting in the loss of more than 50 lives and injuries to over 700 people.
