Prateek Tanmay
3 min readNew DelhiJun 13, 2026 09:23 PM IST
Citing prolonged incarceration and delay in trials, Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam have moved fresh bail applications before a court in the “larger conspiracy” terror case linked to the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots.
Sharjeel Imam’s bail plea highlighted that despite more than six months since the Supreme Court’s judgment, which denied the two bail, there has been no meaningful progress in the trial proceedings. Currently, the case is at the stage of arguments on charge.
Meanwhile, Khalid’s plea argues that even as his earlier bail plea was rejected by the SC, subsequent judicial developments constituted a “change in circumstances”. He was referring to the court’s remarks in May in another case, asserting that “bail is the rule…” even under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Vacation Judge Dr Sumedh Kumar Sethi of Karkardooma Courts issued notice and sought a response on the bail pleas from the Delhi Police Special Cell while listing the matter for hearing on July 4.
On January 5, the Supreme Court refused bail to Khalid and Imam in the case while granting relief to co-accused Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, Mohammad Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmad.
A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria then observed that there was a prima facie case against Khalid and Imam under the UAPA and held that all accused could not be treated equally in view of the “hierarchy of participation”.
According to the Delhi Police Special Cell, which has been investigating the case, 18 persons orchestrated a “larger conspiracy” which eventually led to the violence which rocked Northeast Delhi in February 2020.
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All 18 people were booked under relevant provisions of the stringent anti-terror UAPA and the Indian Penal Code. The Special Cell had argued that the riots were the result of a months-long “deep-rooted” conspiracy allegedly hatched after the Citizenship Amendment bill received Cabinet approval in December 2019. The “conspiracy” here involves the creation of 23 protest sites (which operated for 24*7) in “Muslim majority areas” close to mosques and main roads.
The Special Cell claimed that the accused wanted to “escalate” the protest to a ‘chakka jam’ (road blockade) “once critical mass is generated” when US President Donald Trump visited Delhi in 2020. The goal of the accused, as per the Special Cell, was to create violence against police personnel and spread communal violence.
