The Supreme Court is set to deliver its verdict on the bail pleas of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and five others jailed under the UAPA in 2020 Delhi riots case.
Jailed for over five years, student activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam will finally walk out of jail or not will be known on Monday, January 5, as the Supreme Court is set to pronounce its verdict on their bail please along with that of five others accused in the alleged “larger conspiracy” case linked to the 2020 Delhi riots.
A bench of justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria had on December 10 last year reserved its judgment after hearing arguments from the accused and the Delhi Police, which has invoked the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) to oppose their release.
The Umar Khalid-Sharjeel Imam case so far
- Umar Khalid has been in custody since September 13, 2020, while Imam has been prisoned since January 28, 2020, weeks before the Delhi riots broke out. The accused argued that the prosecution was adopting a tactic of arresting one accused at a time to artificially extend the alleged conspiracy and delay the trial, as mentioned in an earlier HT report.
- The 2020 riots took place in February in parts of Northeast Delhi, following weeks of tension around protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). The violence, which lasted several days, led to the several deaths, along with large-scale damage to homes, shops, and places of worship.
- In the aftermath, Delhi Police investigated the violence and described it as a “conspiracy” linked to protests against the CAA. Several activists, students, and intellectuals were arrested under stringent laws such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Among them were Sharjeel Imam, a former JNU student, and Umar Khalid, a student activist associated with earlier campus movements. The police alleged that their speeches and activities contributed to the planning and escalation of violence, claims that both have strongly denied.
- One of the actions by Sharjeel Imam cited as a crucial piece of evidence in court hearings to have him jailed is a video of him in which he is seen speaking about blocking the “chicken neck” corridor and separating Assam from the rest of India. Delhi Police has also cited another video in which Sharjeel Imam allegedly laid out a plan to “paralyse Delhi” through a “chakka jam”, cutting off essential supplies, such as milk and vegetables.
- During the December 10 hearing, the Supreme Court repeatedly questioned the Delhi Police on the applicability of Section 15 of the UAPA, which defines a “terrorist act”, to speeches and protest-related activities relied upon by the prosecution.
- Besides Khalid and Imam, the bail pleas pertain to Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa ur Rehman, Mohd Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmed, all of whom are facing prosecution for allegedly being part of a coordinated conspiracy that culminated in communal violence in northeast Delhi in February 2020, leaving 53 people dead and hundreds injured.
- On Umar Khalid’s role, the Additional solicitor general (ASG) SV Raju has in previous hearings referred to what he described as Khalid’s antecedents, including a controversial 2016 JNU protest, alleging that Khalid had raised the slogan “Bharat tere tukde tukde honge”. Raju said this FIR had been relied upon in the supplementary charge sheet filed in November 2020.
- The bail pleas before the Supreme Court stem from from a September 2, 2025, order of the Delhi high court, which had refused bail to nine accused, including Khalid and Imam. A bench of justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur (since retired) held that the material collected by investigators prima facie pointed to a coordinated conspiracy, describing Khalid and Imam as the “intellectual architects” of the violence.
- Advocate for the accused has countered in court the allegations saying that snippets from hours-long speeches and WhatsApp chats have been handpicked speeches to create “prejudice”.
