New Delhi: A Delhi court on Wednesday (December 18) granted interim bail to Umar Khalid in the larger Delhi-riots conspiracy case in which he is one of the accused.
Khalid was granted relief for seven days from December 28-January 3 to attend his cousin sister’s wedding, Bar and Bench reported. Judge Sameer Bajpai of Karkardooma court heard Khalid’s interim bail plea.
As part of the conditions for bail, Khalid is to furnish a personal bond of Rs 20,000 and two sureties of the same amount. He has also been instructed to not use use social media or contact any person in connection with the case.
The last time Khalid stepped out of prison was also on a week-long interim bail in December 2022.
Regular bail plea
His regular bail plea is currently pending before the a bench Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur of the Delhi high court.
The high court bench has been hearing student activist Gulfisha Fatima, Khalid Saifi and Umar Khalid’s bail plea in an Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) case on December 6, 2024.
The three have been accused under the draconian UAPA in connection with the 2020 Delhi riots. They sought bail on Monday on grounds of their prolonger incarceration.
Justices Chawla and Kaur were set to hear Khalid’s bail petition on October 7, but the bench failed to convene, LiveLaw had reported. The court master had then listed the case for November 25.
Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Girish Kathpalia had issued a notice to the Delhi Police on July 24 seeking their response on Khalid’s bail application. However, the police failed to file its response before the next hearing, set from a month from then, on August 29, LiveLaw had reported.
Bail pleas of other accused in the Delhi riots case, Sharjeel Imam, Meeran Haider, Saleem Khan and Shifa Ur Rehman, listed before the same bench, were also to be heard on August 29.
Previously, Justice Amit Sharma of the Delhi high court had recused himself from the Delhi riots case ahead of Khalid’s bail hearing on July 22). A bench of Justices Sharma and Prathiba M. Singh were set to hear the case that day.
Khalid completed four years days in jail on September 14 this year.
He was earlier denied bail by a lower court on May 28, 2024. He had moved the trial court after his bail application was delayed 14 times in the Supreme Court over the last four years. Khalid’s lawyer, Kapil Sibal, had withdrawn the petition from the top court in February, 2024 to “try their luck in a lower court”.
Timeline prepared by Elisha Vermani.