New Delhi, 30 September (H.S.): The Delhi High Court has dismissed the bail pleas of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, who are accused in the case concerning the alleged larger conspiracy behind the 2020 Delhi riots. A Division Bench comprising Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Dinesh Bhatt said the High Court was bound by the Supreme Court’s earlier order and was required to adhere to judicial discipline.

Earlier, on July 4, the Karkardooma Court had rejected the fresh bail applications filed by Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam. Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai had observed that he was bound to follow the Supreme Court’s January 5 order. The Karkardooma Court had held that the fresh bail applications of Khalid and Imam could not be entertained at the trial-court stage in view of the Supreme Court’s directions.

During the proceedings, senior advocate Trideep Pais, appearing for Umar Khalid, argued that the Supreme Court had raised questions in the Andrabi case regarding the rejection of the bail pleas of Khalid and Imam. He submitted that the Supreme Court’s earlier direction permitting the filing of a fresh bail application after one year if the statements of protected witnesses had not been recorded was no longer applicable.

On January 5, the Supreme Court had rejected the bail pleas of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam. The five co-accused who were granted bail on that occasion were Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, Shadab Ahmad and Mohammad Saleem Khan. Subsequently, on May 22, the Supreme Court granted six months’ interim bail to co-accused Khalid Saifi and Tasleem Ahmed. Four other accused — Safoora Zargar, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal — had already secured bail.

The case concerns allegations of a larger conspiracy behind the communal violence that broke out in northeast Delhi in February 2020. Khalid and Imam are among the accused booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and other penal provisions. The allegations against them remain subject to judicial proceedings.

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

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar