2020 riots: Delhi High Court seeks police reply on Umar Khalid’s bail plea

Khalid has sought interim bail citing the Supreme Court’s May order granting similar relief to co-accused Tasleem Ahmad and Abdul Khalid Saifi; matter to be heard on August 27.

3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jul 31, 2026 12:27 PM IST

Umar Khalid’s bail pleas were rejected twice by the Delhi HC earlier -- in October 2022 and September 2025. Both times, the Supreme Court had upheld the Delhi HC’s order. (Source: File)

The Delhi High Court Friday issued notice to the prosecution on a plea by former JNU student leader Umar Khalid, who is seeking interim as well as regular bail in the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots ‘larger conspiracy case’.

Umar, represented by senior advocate Trideep Pais, sought interim bail on the same ground on which two co-accused — Tasleem Ahmad and Abdul Khalid Saifi — were granted six months’ interim bail by the Supreme Court in May, after another bench questioned the approach adopted in an earlier bail ruling in January.

A High Court division bench of Justices Prathiba Singh and Vikas Mahajan will hear Umar’s bail plea on August 27, along with the regular bail plea by co-accused activist Sharjeel Imam.

Umar’s bail pleas were rejected twice by the Delhi HC earlier — in October 2022 and September 2025. Both times, the Supreme Court had upheld the Delhi HC’s order.

The two SC verdicts

In its January 5 order, the SC refused bail to Umar and Sharjeel, while granting bail to five other co-accused in the case, and establishing the “hierarchy of participation”. In this hierarchy, Umar and Sharjeel were classified to be on a “higher footing” compared to the other five.

But in a judgment in May, another bench had differed from the January judgment and expressed “serious reservations”.

Granting relief to Ahmad and Saifi, the court had observed that the Chief Justice of India should constitute a bench to “settle the correct approach to bail under special statutes where Article 21 (right to life and personal liberty), prolonged incarceration, and statutory restrictions intersect”.

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On July 4, a trial court had refused to grant bail to both.

It observed that it had no option but to follow the SC’s January 5 judgment, “whereby petitions of both applicants were dismissed”, and had also observed no change in their circumstances to allow a fresh plea for bail.

Umar, along with others, is facing allegations of a ‘larger conspiracy’ to allegedly cause the riots in Northeast Delhi between February 23 and 25, 2020, which left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.

He has been booked for offences under the Indian Penal Code, Prevention of Damage to Public Property (PDPP) Act, Arms Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

Sohini Ghosh

Sohini Ghosh is a Senior Correspondent at The Indian Express. Previously based in Ahmedabad covering Gujarat, she recently moved to the New Delhi bureau, where she primarily covers legal developments at the Delhi High Court Professional Profile Background: An alumna of the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), she previously worked with ET NOW before joining The Indian Express. Core Beats: Her reporting is currently centered on the Delhi High Court, with a focus on high-profile constitutional disputes, disputes over intellectual property, criminal and civil cases, issues of human rights and regulatory law (especially in the areas of technology and healthcare). Earlier Specialty: In Gujarat, she was known for her rigorous coverage in the beats of crime, law and policy, and social justice issues, including the 2002 riot cases, 2008 serial bomb blast case, 2016 flogging of Dalits in Una, among others. She has extensively covered health in the state, including being part of the team that revealed the segregation of wards at the state’s largest government hospital on lines of faith in April 2020. With Ahmedabad being a UNESCO heritage city, she has widely covered urban development and heritage issues, including the redevelopment of the Sabarmati Ashram Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025) Her recent reporting from the Delhi High Court covers major political, constitutional, corporate, and public-interest legal battles: High-Profile Case Coverage She has extensively covered the various legal battles - including for compensation under the aegis of North East Delhi Riots Claims Commission - pertaining to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, as well as 1984 anti-Sikh riots. She has also led coverage at the intersection of technology and governance, and its impact on the citizenry, from, and beyond courtrooms — such as the government’s stakeholder consultations for framing AI-Deepfake policy. Signature Style Sohini is recognized for her sustained reporting from courtrooms and beyond. She specialises in breaking down dense legal arguments to make legalese accessible for readers. Her transition from Gujarat to Delhi has seen her expand her coverage on regulatory, corporate and intellectual property law, while maintaining a strong commitment to human rights and lacuna in the criminal justice system. X (Twitter): @thanda_ghosh ... Read More

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