In a major setback to former JNU student leaders Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday rejected their bail pleas along with those of seven other accused in the 2020 Delhi riots case.
The nine accused have been held in detention since 2020, with the trial yet to commence.
A two-judge bench comprising Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur had reserved their decision on 9 July. The bail pleas had been pending in the high court since 2022 and were previously heard by multiple benches.
According to reports, an FIR was filed by Delhi Police's Special Cell in 2020 under the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The accused who had filed bail petitions before the High Court include Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid, Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa-ur-Rehman, Athar Khan, Meeran Haider, Shadab Ahmed, Abdul Khalid Saifi, and Gulfisha Fatima.
The allegations stem from sectarian clashes that erupted in Northeast Delhi on 23 February 2020, in the aftermath of demonstrations opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), resulting in no fewer than 53 fatalities and hundreds of casualties. Delhi Police's Special Cell and Crime Branch maintain that the unrest resulted from an elaborate plot, purportedly orchestrated by Khalid, with its origins traced to the anti-CAA and NRC demonstrations of 2019.
Imam was detained in August 2020, while Khalid and co-defendants were subsequently included in the formal charges. Khalid's application for release also remained unresolved before the Supreme Court from May 2023 to January 2024, before he retracted it due to "altered circumstances". He returned to the trial court and again petitioned the high court in February of this year.
