The Supreme Court due to the non-availability of counsel on both sides has adjourned the hearing in Umar Khalid’s bail plea in the Delhi Riots conspiracy case.
A Bench comprising of Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma after noting that the counsels of both Delhi police and Umar Khalid not present in the court adjourned the hearing.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal was representing Khalid , whereas Additional Solicitor General SV Raju was counsel for the Delhi Police.
The Bench suggested to list the matter next week but later realised that advocate Sibal will be arguing before a Constitution Bench, the Court adjourned the matter to January.
The Supreme Court was approached by Khalid challenging an October 2022 Delhi High Court judgment denying bail to him.
The activist, who was arrested in September 2020 under the stringent provision of UAPA, has spent over two years and 11 months behind the bars.
Delhi Police had charged him with offences of criminal conspiracy, rioting and unlawful assembly. He was further booked under several Sections of UAPA.
The former JNU scholar moved the Apex Court against the Delhi High Court order of October 18, 2020, which refused to grant him bail in the case. The Division Bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar had dismissed Khalid’s appeal after hearing arguments for more than 20 days.
Khalid had previously approached the High Court challenging the dismissal of his bail application by the Karkardooma court in March 2022.
He was arrested by the Delhi Police in September 2020 and charged with criminal conspiracy, rioting, unlawful assembly as well as several other offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
He has remained in jail since then.
A Karkardooma court had denied bail to him in March 2022. Khalid then approached the High Court, which also denied him relief, prompting the appeal before the top court.
The apex court in May this year issued notice to the Delhi Police on the bail plea.