The Supreme Court of India on Monday rejected the bail pleas of activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the “larger conspiracy” case linked to the February 2020 Delhi riots, holding that the two stand on a “qualitatively different footing” from the other accused.
In the same verdict, a bench comprising Justices Aravind Kumar and N. V. Anjaria granted bail to five other accused—Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, Mohd. Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmad—who are also facing charges in the case.
Khalid, Imam and the other accused were booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and provisions of the Indian Penal Code in a case in which the Delhi Police has alleged a larger conspiracy behind the communal violence in northeast Delhi in 2020. The riots claimed 53 lives and left over 700 people injured, erupting amid protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens.
The bail pleas before the apex court had challenged a September 2, 2025 order of the Delhi High Court, which had declined bail to the accused in the conspiracy case. The Supreme Court had reserved its verdict in December 2025 after hearing detailed arguments from both the prosecution and the defence.
Details of the operative conditions attached to the bail granted to the five accused were not immediately available at the time of filing.
