New Delhi, 31 July (H.S.): The Delhi High Court on Friday issued a notice to the Delhi Police while hearing the bail application of Umar Khalid, who is accused in the alleged conspiracy behind the 2020 Delhi riots. A Bench headed by Justice Prathiba M. Singh tagged Khalid's bail plea with that of co-accused Sharjeel Imam and scheduled the next hearing for August 27.

Earlier, on July 4, the Karkardooma Court had dismissed the fresh bail applications filed by Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam. Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai had observed that the trial court was bound by the Supreme Court's order dated January 5. The court had further ruled that the fresh bail applications filed by Khalid and Imam were not maintainable before the trial court.

During the hearing, senior advocate Trideep Pais, appearing for Umar Khalid, argued that the Supreme Court, while hearing the Andrabee matter, had questioned the rejection of the bail pleas filed by Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam. He further submitted that the earlier direction of the Supreme Court requiring the accused to wait for one year before filing a fresh bail application if witness testimonies had not been recorded was no longer applicable.

On January 5, the Supreme Court had dismissed the bail applications of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam. However, on the same day, it granted bail to five other accused in the case—Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa-Ur-Rehman, Shadab Ahmed and Mohammad Saleem Khan.

Subsequently, on May 22, the Supreme Court granted six months' interim bail to co-accused Khalid Saifi and Tasleem Ahmad. Four other accused had already secured bail earlier in the case, namely Safoora Zargar, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal.

A chargesheet has been filed under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against 18 accused in the case. Those named in the chargesheet include Safoora Zargar, Tahir Hussain, Umar Khalid, Khalid Saifi, Ishrat Jahan, Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima, Shifa-Ur-Rehman, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Shadab Ahmed, Tasleem Ahmad, Saleem Malik, Mohammad Saleem Khan, Athar Khan, Sharjeel Imam, Faizan Khan, Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita.

The 2020 Delhi riots claimed at least 53 lives and left a large number of people injured.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar