NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday in its order declined to give two weeks more time to Delhi Police for filing its reply on the bail pleas of former JNU student, Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid and others accused in the 2020 Delhi riots larger conspiracy case.
During a brief hearing on Monday in the top court, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, senior law officer appearing for the Delhi Police, sought time to file a counter-affidavit, to respond to the bail pleas of accused persons, to which, the top court bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria refused to grant two weeks more time and fixed the petitions for further hearing to October 31, Friday.
It had earlier on September 22 issued notice to Delhi Police and sought the reply in the case, but it could not file its response.
Seeking bail, Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Imam and some other petitioners, questioned the delay in trial and argued that there should not be further delay in the hearing. He further added that many accused persons, including Imam, had said they are students and had been in jail for over five years.
On September 6, the former JNU student, Imam, had moved the SC, after the Delhi High Court rejected his bail plea. He sought bail in the larger conspiracy case under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in relation to the 2020 North East Delhi riots case.
Similarly, the former JNU student Umar Khalid on September 10 had approached the Supreme Court challenging Delhi HC's order rejecting him bail under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act case related to the alleged criminal conspiracy in the February 2020 riots in the national capital.
According to the prosecution, Delhi Police had booked Imam under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). On January 28, 2020, he was arrested by the Delhi Police’s Crime Branch from Bihar’s Jehanabad in a sedition case for allegedly making inflammatory speeches in the Jamia Millia Islamia University and Aligarh Muslim University.
The riots took place in February 2020, following clashes over the then-proposed Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). As per the Delhi Police, the riots caused the death of 53 persons and injured hundreds.
The prosecution alleged that the accused, Imam, had hatched a larger criminal conspiracy to cause multiple riots. The FIR in this case was registered by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the UAPA.
Imam was booked in multiple FIRs across several states, mostly under sedition and UAPA charges. Besides Delhi, Imam is facing FIRs in the States of Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.
Imam was granted bail by the Delhi HC last year for his alleged speeches he gave at Jamia Milia Islamia University and Aligarh Muslim University. In the sedition cases registered in Aligarh and Guwahati, he was granted bail by the Allahabad High Court in 2021 and the Gauhati HC in 2020, respectively. He was also booked in FIRs (First Information Report) in Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.
'No physical evidence against me', Umar Khalid tells court
The Delhi HC had on September 2 rejected the bail plea of nine persons, including Khalid and Imam, in the case, saying "conspiratorial" violence under the garb of demonstrations or protests by citizens couldn't be allowed.
The HC, which had rejected other accused's bail plea, included Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa Ur Rehman, Athar Khan, Meeran Haider, Abdul Khalid Saifi, Gulfisha Fatima and Shadab Ahmed.
The social activist and former JNU student 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 charge, for his alleged larger conspiracy behind the Delhi Riots case. He, denied the charges and claimed innocent in the case.
Khalid had earlier approached the top court challenging an October 2022 Delhi HC verdict that had denied bail to him. Since then, he has been in jail and never been on bail, despite his best efforts and filing constant appeals across courts, pleading to be released on bail.
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.
The police also arrested Imam, activist- Khalid Saifi, JNU students Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, former AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) 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.
