New Delhi, September 30: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to grant bail to activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the case concerning the alleged larger conspiracy behind the February 2020 north-east Delhi riots.
A bench comprising Justices Prathiba M Singh and Dinesh Bhatt dismissed the third bail pleas filed by Khalid and Imam.
The court said it could not modify the Supreme Court’s January 5 order, which allowed the two accused to seek bail either after the examination of protected witnesses is completed or after one year from the date of the order, whichever comes earlier.
Khalid and Imam have been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in connection with allegations related to the larger conspiracy behind the 2020 violence.
The riots, which erupted amid protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019 and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC), left 53 people dead and more than 700 injured, according to the case record cited in the report.
The case was investigated by the Delhi Police Special Cell. Activist Khalid Saifi and former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain, among others, have also been accused in the larger conspiracy case.
Imam was arrested on August 25, 2020, while Khalid was arrested on September 13, 2020. Their earlier bail applications were dismissed by the trial court for the third time on July 4, following which they approached the High Court.
The Delhi Police opposed the bail pleas and alleged that Khalid and Imam were among the alleged masterminds of the violence.
