The Supreme Court is on Monday scheduled to hear the bail pleas of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and others in the UAPA case linked to the alleged conspiracy behind the Delhi riots in February 2020.
A two-judge bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria is likely to take up the matter for hearing.
Apart from Khalid and Imam, the bench will also hear bail pleas of Gulfisha Fatima and Meeran Haider in the same case.
This comes over a month after the SC had sought response from the Delhi Police on the matter of the bail pleas of the jailed activists. The top court had issued the notice on September 22.
Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and others had moved the apex court challenging a decision of the Delhi High Court that denied them bail in the 2020 Delhi riots case.
2020 Delhi riots case: What did HC say?
On September 2, the Delhi High Court denied bail to nine people, including Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, saying “conspiratorial” violence under the garb of demonstrations or protests by citizens could not be allowed.
Besides Khalid and Imam, those who faced bail rejection are Fatima, Haider, Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa Ur Rehman, Athar Khan, Abdul Khalid Saifi and Shadab Ahmed.
The bail plea of another accused, Tasleem Ahmed, was rejected by a different high court bench on September 2.
The high court said the Constitution affords citizens the right to protest and carry out demonstrations or agitations, provided they are orderly, peaceful and without arms, and such actions must be within the bounds of law.
While the high court said the right to participate in peaceful protests and to make speeches in public meetings was said to have been protected under Article 19(1)(a), and couldn’t be blatantly curtailed, it observed the right was “not absolute” and “subject to reasonable restrictions”.
“If the exercise of an unfettered right to protest were permitted, it would damage the constitutional framework and impinge upon the law and order situation in the country,” the bail rejection order said.
Khalid, Imam and the rest of the accused persons were booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and provisions of the erstwhile IPC for allegedly being the “masterminds” of the February 2020 Delhi riots, which left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.
The violence erupted during the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens.
If the exercise of an unfettered right to protest were permitted, it would damage the constitutional framework and impinge upon the law and order situation in the country.
The accused, who have denied all the allegations against them, have been in jail since 2020 and had moved the high court after a trial court rejected their bail pleas.
(With inputs from agencies)
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