Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi
New Delhi, Jul 31: The Delhi High Court on Friday sought a response from the Delhi Police on activist Umar Khalid’s fresh bail plea in the alleged larger conspiracy case linked to the February 2020 northeast Delhi riots.
A division bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Vikas Mahajan issued notice to the city police and directed it to file its reply within two weeks.
Appearing for Khalid, his counsel informed the court that the plea was his third bail application since his arrest and also sought interim bail. The matter has been listed for hearing on August 27, when the bail plea of co-accused Sharjeel Imam is also scheduled to come up.
Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the Delhi Police, requested that both matters be heard together, stating that Imam’s bail plea was also rejected by the same trial court order.
Khalid has challenged the July 4 order of the trial court that dismissed his bail application. The trial court had observed that it had “no option but to follow” the Supreme Court’s January 5 order and therefore could neither entertain the plea nor grant relief.
Khalid was arrested in September 2020 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) on allegations of being one of the alleged masterminds behind the February 2020 riots in northeast Delhi, which claimed 53 lives and left more than 700 people injured.
The violence erupted during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019 and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The Delhi Police Special Cell is investigating the alleged larger conspiracy case, in which Sharjeel Imam, Khalid Saifi, former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and several others have also been named as accused.
Earlier, the Delhi High Court had rejected Khalid’s bail plea on September 2, 2025. The Supreme Court upheld the decision on January 5 while granting bail to co-accused Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, Mohammad Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmad.
The Supreme Court had observed that there was a prima facie case against Khalid and Imam under the UAPA and noted that all accused could not be treated equally due to differences in their alleged roles in the case.