The Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed bail pleas filed by former JNU student leaders Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, along with seven other accused in the “larger conspiracy” case linked to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots.
A division bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur pronounced the verdict, stating, “All the appeals are dismissed.” The court had earlier reserved its order on July 9 after extensive hearings on the matter.
Besides Khalid and Imam, the court also rejected bail applications filed by activist Gulfisha Fatima, United Against Hate founder Khalid Saifi, Athar Khan, Mohd Saleem, Shifa ur Rehman, Meeran Haider, and Shadaab Ahmed. All of them are facing trial under charges of alleged conspiracy, violence, and unlawful activities.
The case stems from the communal violence that broke out in northeast Delhi on February 23, 2020, during protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The riots claimed 53 lives and left hundreds injured. The Delhi Police have alleged that the violence was not a spontaneous outbreak but the result of a “well-planned, well-orchestrated conspiracy” aimed at creating communal discord and tarnishing India’s global image.
The accused had argued that they have already spent more than four years in custody without trial reaching conclusion, making their continued incarceration unjustifiable. Their counsel also pressed for bail on the grounds of parity, pointing to the 2021 Delhi High Court order granting bail to fellow activists Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, and Asif Iqbal Tanha in related cases.
Opposing the pleas, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad maintained that the accused played a key role in a “sinister conspiracy” to engineer the riots. They argued that granting bail would undermine the seriousness of the charges and the gravity of the violence.
