Supreme Court to pronounce order on January 5 on bail plea of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and others

New Delhi: The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce its judgment on January 5 on bail petitions filed by former JNU students and activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam and others in the 2020 Delhi riots larger conspiracy case.

A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria would render the judgment on Monday, according to the Supreme Court's causelist.

The court had reserved the judgment on December 10.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, and Additional Solicitor General S V Raju argued for Delhi police and senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Singhvi, Siddhartha Dave, Salman Khurshid and Sidharth Luthra appeared for accused persons.

The accused have been under custody for over five years for offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Opposing the bail plea, the Delhi police claimed that the February 2020 riots were not something spontaneous, but an "orchestrated, pre-planned and well-designed" attack on India's sovereignty.

The counsel for the accused had argued that their speeches would, at most, constitute “unlawful activities”.

The accused petitioners challenged the Delhi High Court's judgment of September 2, 2025, dismissing their bail applications in connection with the case related to the larger conspiracy for the riots which took place in February 2020, following clashes over the Citizenship Amendment Act.

The riots in North East Delhi claimed lives of 53 people and left over 700 others injured.