Former JNU scholar Umar Khalid has moved the Supreme Court seeking bail in the 2020 Delhi riots larger conspiracy case after the Delhi High Court denied him bail recently. He has submitted that the Supreme Court's one-year embargo imposed on the grant of bail was to expire soon. He also said that the other condition imposed by the Court for examination of protected witnesses by the prosecution cannot possibly be completed by January 5, 2027. Therefore, in light of prolonged incarceration, he be granted bail, the plea urged.
It may be recalled that on January 5, 2026, a bench comprising Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice NV Anjaria denied bail to Imam and former JNU scholar Khalid, calling them "ideological drivers" of the larger conspiracy. It, however, granted bail to five other accused persons, including Gulfisha Fatima, by distinguishing the roles played by them in the alleged conspiracy.
