The Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned till January 31 the hearing on the bail plea of former JNU student and activist Umar Khalid in the 2020 Delhi riots case, reports Bar and Bench. This is the 11th time hearing in the matter has been adjourned.
A two-judge bench of Justices Bela M trivedi and Pankaj Mittal deferred the matter as the bench was available only till lunch.
“List on January 31. High on board,” the bench said.
Senior advocate C U Singh, appearing for Khalid, submitted that he was ready to argue but unfortunately this bench is rising after lunch. The matter was listed along with a batch of petitions challenging various provisions of the UAPA.
Delhi Police had arrested Umar Khalid in September 2020 and he had sought bail on grounds that he neither had any criminal role in the violence nor any “conspiratorial connect” with any other accused in the Delhi riots case.
The Delhi Police had opposed the former student leader and activist bail plea in the high court, saying the speech delivered by him was “very calculated” and he brought up contentious issues like Babri Masjid, triple talaq, Kashmir, the alleged suppression of Muslims and the CAA and NRC.
On August 9, Supreme Court judge Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra had recused himself from hearing Khalid’s plea.
On January 10, the Court had granted a “final” adjournment in the matter since both parties had requested the same.
Khalid’s petition challenging the October 18, 2022 order of the Delhi High Court, which had rejected his bail plea in the matter, had come up for hearing before a bench of Justices A S Bopanna and Mishra.
The High Court had rejected Khalid’s bail plea, saying that he was in constant touch with the other co-accused and the allegations against him were prima facie true, and that the actions of the accused qualified as “terrorist act” under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, and several others have been booked under the anti-terror law UAPA and several provisions of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly being the “masterminds” of the February 2020 riots.
Violent clashes had broke out in North East Delhi from February 23-26, 2020, during the protests against Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), leaving 53 people dead and over 700 injured.
(With PTI inputs)
