2020 Delhi riots case: SC defers bail plea hearing to Jan 31 of Ex-JNU student, Umar Khalid

Umar Khalid along with others were booked for allegedly being the "masterminds" of the February 2020 northeast Delhi riots, which left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.

Supreme Court adjourned the hearing on the bail plea of former JNU student Umar Khalid to January 31. File photo

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Wednesday, once again, adjourned the hearing to January 31, on the bail plea application filed by the former JNU student, Umar Khalid, for his alleged involvement in connection with the February 2020 communal violence in the national capital.

The social activist, Khalid has been in jail since his arrest by the Delhi Police on September 14, 2020, for his alleged involvement in the Delhi riots case. He was booked under the very stringent UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) charge, for his alleged larger conspiracy behind the Delhi Riots case. He denied the charges and claimed innocent in the case.

on Wednesday, the bail plea hearing of Khalid, was scheduled to be heard by a two-judge bench, headed by Justice Bela M Trivedi and also comprising Justice Ujjal Bhuyan. But it was deferred to January 31, as Justice Trivedi, was in a special bench combination to hear another matter at 2 pm.

The accused, Khalid had approached the top court challenging an October 2022 Delhi High Court verdict that had denied bail to him.

He had initially in the Delhi the High Court sought bail on grounds that he neither had any "criminal role" in the violence in the city's North-East area nor any "conspiratorial connect" with any other accused in the case. The Delhi police had opposed the bail plea of Khalid in the HC.

He had approached the High Court challenging the dismissal of his bail application by the trial court in March 2022.

The police also arrested Sharjeel Imam, activist Khalid Saifi, JNU students Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and several others under the stringent law in the case.

According to the prosecution, the violence had erupted following protests against the CAA and NRC. The protests had left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.

Khalid was charge-sheeted in the case, along with other accused persons in the case.