Activist Umar Khalid on Friday told the Supreme Court that there is no evidence connecting him to the violence during the February 2020 Delhi riots and that the conspiracy charges against him are baseless. He sought bail under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), arguing that the prosecution has failed to produce any material linking him to the alleged conspiracy.
โNo Funds, Weapons, or Evidence Linking Me to Riotsโ: Sibal
Appearing for Khalid, senior advocate Kapil Sibal told a bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N.V. Anjaria that neither funds nor weapons were recovered from his client.
โThere are 751 FIRs. I am charged in one, and if it’s a conspiracy, itโs a bit surprising! If I conspired riots, on dates in which riots took place, I was not even in Delhi,โ Sibal submitted.
He also pointed out that no witness statements connected Khalid to any act of violence.
Sibal argued that Khalid is entitled to bail on grounds of parity, citing the Supreme Courtโs earlier decision to grant bail to fellow activists Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, and Asif Iqbal Tanha in 2021. He added that Khalidโs Amravati speech, cited by the Delhi High Court as โinflammatory,โ was actually based on Gandhian principles and available publicly on YouTube.
โFive Years and Five Months in Jailโ: Gulfisha Fatimaโs Counsel
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for activist Gulfisha Fatima, told the bench that she has been incarcerated since April 2020โover five years and five monthsโwithout her bail plea being decided.
He highlighted that the main chargesheet was filed in September 2020, yet the prosecution continues to file supplementary chargesheets โas an annual ritual.โ
โThe allegation against her is only that she created a WhatsApp group to coordinate or mobilise support,โ Singhvi said, adding that the key legal test is intent to incite violence or create disharmonyโsomething absent in Fatimaโs case.
Sharjeel Imam Argues No Direct Link to Violence
Representing co-accused Sharjeel Imam, senior advocate Siddharth Dave argued that the police took three years to complete its investigation while Imam spent five years in custody.
โThe speeches were delivered by me nearly two months before the riots. There is no direct or proximate link suggesting I incited violence,โ Dave submitted.
Prosecution Opposes Bail
The Delhi Police, opposing the bail pleas, reiterated that the accused were part of a larger conspiracy aimed at โstriking at the sovereignty and integrity of the countryโ through a so-called โregime change operationโ carried out under the guise of peaceful protests.
Khalid, Imam, Fatima, and Meeran Haider are accused under the UAPA and various provisions of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly being โmastermindsโ of the 2020 Delhi riots, which erupted during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens. The riots left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.
The hearing on the bail pleas remained inconclusive and will continue on November 3.
