Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam move Supreme Court seeking bail
What's the story
Former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) scholar Umar Khalid and student activist Sharjeel Imam have approached the Supreme Court seeking bail in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case. The duo's petitions were filed on Wednesday. They cited a one-year embargo imposed by the court on January 5, which is nearing its end, yet the examination of protected witnesses was still pending.
SC
SC granted 5 bail
In January, the SC granted bail to five other co-accused but rejected the bail pleas of Khalid and Imam.
Justice Aravind Kumar pronouncing the judgment, held that Khalid and Imam "stand on a qualitatively different footing" from the remaining accused.
However, the court allowed both to renew their prayer for bail upon completion of the examination of the protected witnesses or upon the expiry of one year from the date of the order, whichever occurs earlier.
Bail plea rejection
Delhi HC rejected bail pleas on September 30
The Delhi High Court had earlier rejected their bail pleas on September 30, citing the Supreme Court's one-year embargo.
The high court bench, comprising Justices Pratibha M Singh and Dinesh Bhatt, said it couldn't modify the apex court's order.
Challenging this rejection, Khalid and Imam have urged the Supreme Court to consider their current situation after spending six years in jail and with the prosecution failing to examine even one of the more than 900 witnesses named in the case.
Detention debate
'Continued detention unreasonable, punitive'
The petitioners have argued that their continued detention is unreasonable and punitive due to delays in trial proceedings.
They said arguments on framing charges concluded on July 13, but trial proceedings are stalled as the trial judge awaits the outcome of a Supreme Court judgment on a co-accused's plea to inspect unrelied documents.
They stated that "continued detention is no longer process-oriented and becomes punitive by reason of unreasonable and unjustified delay."
Arrest details
Know about the arrests
Khalid was arrested by the Delhi Police on September 13, 2020, and has been in jail since.
Imam was arrested in January 2020 for a separate hate speech case in Bihar but was formally arrested in the Delhi riots case on August 25, 2020.
The riots were triggered by protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act on February 24, 2020.