2022 Delhi riots case: SC adjourns bail plea of Umar Khalid, 4 others till Sept 22

New Delhi: In the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case, the Supreme Court on Friday adjourned the hearing of the bail pleas filed by five accused - Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima and Shifa Ur Rehman till September 22.

The petitions were listed before a bench comprising Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Manmohan.

Though the matter was listed on September 12 before a bench comprising Justice Kumar and Justice NV Anjaria, it was adjourned as the Court expressed difficulty about taking up these matters. The bench adjourned the pleas, saying that the files of the supplementary list were received only at 2.30 a.m.

The five accused approached the apex court after the Delhi High Court dismissed their bail plea on September 2. They have been in jail for more than five years.

A division bench comprising Justice Naveen Chawla and Justice Shalinder Kaur had pronounced the judgment in FIR 59 of 2020, registered by Delhi Police's Special Cell.

The petitioners are facing charges under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the Indian Penal Code for allegedly formulating the "larger conspiracy" behind the communal riots which took place in the national capital in the last week of February 2020. All five were student activists at the forefront of organising anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests in 2019-2020.

Delhi police had booked 18 activists in the larger conspiracy case related to the riots. Among them, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Safoora Zargar, Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal secured bail.

Other accused housed in jail are - Tahir Hussain, Umar Khalid, Khalid Saifi, Isharat Jahan, Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima, Shifa-Ur-Rehman, Shadab Ahmed, Tasleem Ahmed, Saleem Malik, Mohd. Saleem Khan, Athar Khan, Sharjeel Imam and Faizan Khan.

(With Live Law inputs)