Delhi’s Karkardooma Court Refuses Temporary Bail To Umar Khalid In 2020 Riots Case

A Delhi court has rejected the interim bail plea filed by former Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader Umar Khalid in connection with the 2020 Delhi riots case. Khalid had sought temporary bail to attend to his mother, who is scheduled to undergo surgery.

The order was passed by the Karkardooma Court, which observed that the reasons cited by Khalid for seeking interim relief were neither adequate nor convincing. The court stated that the circumstances mentioned in the plea did not justify granting temporary bail.

The decision comes a day after the Supreme Court of India made significant observations regarding prolonged incarceration of undertrial prisoners. The apex court had remarked that keeping an accused in jail for an extended period before the completion of trial was unconstitutional.

During the hearing, the Supreme Court had also indicated that the bail pleas of Umar Khalid and other accused persons, including Gulfisha Fatima, may not have been appropriately decided earlier.

Khalid is among several individuals accused in the alleged larger conspiracy linked to the communal violence that erupted in northeast Delhi in February 2020.