The Supreme Court on Wednesday deferred the bail application of former JNU scholar and activist Umar Khalid after Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra recused from hearing the case related to the larger conspiracy leading to Delhi riots in 2020.
As soon as the Special Leave petition came up for hearing before the Bench of Justice A.S. Bopanna and Justice Mishra, the former said the case would be taken up by some other Bench on August 17 as there was some difficulty on part of Justice Mishra.
Khalid was represented by Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Chander Uday Singh, while Delhi Police was represented by Advocate Rajat Nair.
Hearing in the case was adjourned twice last month. On July 24, the top court of the country had adjourned the SLP after a letter of adjournment was circulated by Khalid’s counsel. On July 12, the Apex Court deferred the hearing after the Delhi police sought more time to file a counter-affidavit.
On May 18, the Apex Court had issued notice on the SLP.
The Delhi Police had arrested Khalid in September 2020 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. He was charged with criminal conspiracy, rioting, unlawful assembly and several Sections of the UAPA. He has remained behind the bars since.
The former JNU scholar moved the Apex Court against the Delhi High Court order of October, 2020, which refused to grant him bail in the case. The arguments in the High Court had gone on 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.