2020 Delhi riots: Supreme Court dismisses review plea by Umar Khalid against judgment refusing bail

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has dismissed a review petition filed by former JNU student and activist Umar Khalid against a verdict that declined him bail after finding that there were reasonable grounds to believe the allegations levelled against him in connection with the conspiracy behind the 2020 Delhi riots.

A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria rejected the review petition as well as the application for open court hearing in the matter.

"Having gone through the review petition and also the documents enclosed, we do not find any good ground and reason to review of the judgment dated 05.01.2026," the bench said in its order on April 16, 2026.

As per the Supreme Court's rules, review petitions are considered by judges, who delivered a judgment or passed an order, in chambers to remedy an apparent error or a resultant grave injustice that resulted from its decision.

Earlier, senior advocate Kapil Sibal for Khalid has sought open court hearing in the matter.

On January 5, the court refused to grant bail to activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the alleged larger conspiracy case linked to the 2020 Delhi riots. Both the accused were arrested under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

The court had then said Khalid and Imam stood on a qualitatively different footing as compared to the other accused and ordered the release of five other co-accused after drawing a clear distinction in their alleged roles. The other accused in the case were Gulfisha Fatima, Meera Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, Mohd. Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmed.