The Supreme Court will hear on October 27 the pleas of Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid, Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider and Shifa Ur Rehman, who have challenged the Delhi High Court order denying them bail in the UAPA case linked to the alleged larger conspiracy behind the 2020 north-east Delhi riots.
A bench comprising Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria will hear the matter on Monday.
Earlier, the bench had issued a notice to the Delhi Police in response to their petitions.
The Delhi High Court, on September 2, denied bail to Imam, Khalid, and seven others Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa Ur Rehman, Athar Khan, Meeran Haider, Shadab Ahmed, Abdul Khalid Saifi, and Gulfisha Fatima.
On the same day, the bail plea of another accused, Tasleem Ahmed, was rejected by a different High Court bench.
The Delhi Police had opposed their bail pleas, stating that the riots were not spontaneous but “planned well in advance” with a “sinister motive and well-thought-out conspiracy.”
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The High Court had observed that, prima facie, the role of Imam and Khalid in the entire conspiracy appeared “grave”, noting that they had delivered inflammatory speeches on communal lines to “instigate mass mobilisation of members of the Muslim community.”
The accused have sought bail from the apex court in the larger conspiracy case under the stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) relating to the Delhi riots in February 2020.
In 2020, the Delhi Police arrested Imam under the UAPA, naming him as the main conspirator behind the riots.
The violence had erupted during protests against the then-proposed Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), leaving 53 people dead and more than 700 injured.
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