NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday sought a response from the Delhi Police on a plea filed by Athar Khan seeking bail in a case under the UAPA concerning the alleged “larger conspiracy” behind the February 2020 northeast Delhi riots.
A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and Vipul M Pancholi issued notice to the police on Khan’s appeal against the Delhi High Court’s July 7 order refusing him bail. “Issue notice. List after eight weeks,” the bench said. The High Court had held that Khan was “one of the main conspirators” and not a “mere local-level operator”.
Khan’s counsel argued that he had been in custody since July 2020 and sought parity with co-accused granted bail by the SC. The prosecution alleges that Khan managed the Chand Bagh protest site and was part of the conspiracy.