New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice on appeals filed by former JNU student leader Umar Khalid, activist Sharjeel Imam, Gulfisha Fatima and Meeran Haider seeking bail in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

A Bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria said the matter would be heard on October 7. The defence lawyers pointed out that the accused had spent more than five years in jail. Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the accused, urged the court for an early hearing. “Please hear this before Diwali so that we can be out before Diwali,” Sibal pleaded. Singhvi added that it was “shocking that a student has to be behind bars for five years.”

Khalid and others are accused of being part of a “larger conspiracy” behind the communal violence that broke out in North East Delhi in February 2020 during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The riots left 53 people dead and hundreds injured.

The Delhi High Court had earlier rejected their bail pleas, most recently on September 2, prompting the current appeals. Khalid, arrested in September 2020, has repeatedly been denied bail by both trial and appellate courts. Imam, booked in multiple cases across States, has secured bail in some sedition cases but remains in custody under the UAPA conspiracy case.

The FIR in the present case was filed by the Delhi Police Special Cell, invoking provisions of the IPC and UAPA. Most of the accused have been in custody since 2020, with their bail petitions pending at different judicial levels.
(With Bar and Bench inputs.)

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