SC adjourns hearing on Umar Khalid's bail plea in UAPA case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned for four weeks the hearing on a plea filed by former JNU student Umar Khalid seeking bail in a case under anti-terror law UAPA.

The case pertains to his alleged involvement in the conspiracy behind the northeast Delhi riots of February 2020.

A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi said the matter requires a detailed hearing.

"In this matter, we will have to go document-by-document. You file something on what is the evidence available with regard to the charges," the bench told senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Khalid.

Supreme Court judge Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra had on August 9 recused himself from hearing Khalid's plea.

Khalid's petition challenged the October 18, 2022 order of the Delhi High Court that rejected his bail plea, saying he was in constant touch with other co-accused and the allegations against him were prima facie true.

The high court had also said the actions of the accused prima facie qualified as a "terrorist act" under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, and several others have been booked under the anti-terror law UAPA and several provisions of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly being the "masterminds" of the February 2020 riots, which left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.

The violence had erupted during the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Khalid, arrested by the Delhi Police in September 2020, had sought bail on grounds that he neither had any criminal role in the violence nor any "conspiratorial connect" with any other accused in the case.

(Inputs from PTI)