NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court adjourned the hearing of a bail plea on Wednesday filed by former JNU student Umar Khalid to January 10. A two-judge bench, comprising Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma, adjourned the hearing to January 10 as senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Khalid, and additional solicitor general SV Raju, representing Delhi Police, were unavailable during the hearing.
Khalid has been in jail for over three years for his alleged involvement in Delhi riots case. Khalid approached the apex court after the high court, in October 2022, denied him bail, noting that his actions prima facie qualified as a “terrorist act” under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The Delhi Police arrested Khalid in September 2020 under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 144 (unlawful assembly), and other offences under the UAPA. The SC issued notice to Delhi Police in May on Khalid’s bail plea. In August, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra recused himself, leading to an adjournment.
The February 2020 riots resulted in 53 fatalities and over 700 injuries. The unrest transpired amid protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens.Khalid applied for bail saying that he played no criminal role in the violence and had no “conspiratorial connect” with other defendants in the case. The Delhi Police countered Khalid’s bail plea in the HC, saying that his speech was “very calculated” and addressed contentious topics.
