Sharjeel Imam Moves Supreme Court After Bail Denial in 2020 Delhi Riots Case

Activist Sharjeel Imam on Saturday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi High Court's order that denied him bail in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case filed under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The case relates to the alleged larger conspiracy behind the February 2020 communal violence in North-East Delhi.

A Delhi High Court bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur had dismissed the bail pleas of Imam and seven other accused, which were filed between 2022 and 2024 and reserved for judgment on July 9, PTI reported. "All the appeals are dismissed," the bench stated while delivering its order.

During the hearings, the prosecution argued that the riots were not spontaneous but had been "planned well in advance" with a "sinister motive" and were part of a "well-thought-out conspiracy."

Imam, along with Umar Khalid and several others, faces charges under the UAPA and sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for allegedly being among the "masterminds" of the riots. The violence, which erupted during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), claimed 53 lives and left over 700 injured.

Others whose bail pleas were rejected include Umar Khalid, Gulfisha Fatima, United Against Hate (UAH) founder Khalid Saifi, Athar Khan, Mohd Saleem, Shifa-ur Rehman, Meeran Haider, and Shadaab Ahmed. In a related development, another bench of the Delhi High Court also dismissed the bail plea of co-accused Tasleem Ahmad.

The accused had earlier moved the High Court after being denied bail by a lower court. They argued that they had already spent more than four years in custody and that the slow pace of the trial rendered their continued incarceration unjustifiable. The petitioners pointed to the bail granted earlier to co-accused Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, and Asif Iqbal Tanha, asserting they too deserved relief on grounds of parity.