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Supreme Court rejects bail pleas of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam
India's highest court on Monday refused bail to two prominent student activists, Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, who have been imprisoned for over five years without trial in connection with the 2020 Delhi riots.
Charges and legal battle
Khalid and Imam were arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), a stringent anti-terror law that severely restricts bail. Authorities accused them of conspiring to incite the deadly clashes in Delhi that left 53 people dead, most of them Muslims. Both men have consistently denied the allegations and have been repeatedly denied bail in lower courts.
The Supreme Court, however, granted bail to five other activists arrested in the same case. A two-judge bench stated that the bail petitions had to be assessed individually, as the accused were not on "equal footing as regards culpability." The court noted that Khalid and Imam faced distinct charges compared to the others.
The judges ruled that the two activists could reapply for bail only after one year.
Background and protests
The 2020 Delhi riots erupted amid nationwide demonstrations against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which the United Nations described as "fundamentally discriminatory." Khalid, who completed his PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in 2019, and Imam, a doctoral scholar at the same university at the time of his arrest, were both 37 years old.
International and domestic scrutiny
The case has drawn significant attention in India and abroad. In October 2022, a report by a former Supreme Court judge, three retired high court judges, and a former federal home secretary found no evidence to justify terrorism charges against the activists.
Last week, a group of U.S. lawmakers, including Congressmen and Senators, wrote to India's ambassador in Washington, expressing "continued concern" over the activists' "prolonged pre-trial detention."
"Their continued detention amounts to punishment without trial," the activists argued in their Supreme Court plea.
Legal hurdles under UAPA
The UAPA has been criticized for enabling extended pre-trial detention, often lasting years. Khalid's bail applications have been rejected at least five times across different courts over the past five years. He was granted brief furloughs in 2024 and 2025 to attend family weddings. Imam's bail pleas have been rejected at least twice.
Others granted bail
The five activists who secured bail on Monday include Gulfisha Fatima, a 32-year-old business administration graduate from Delhi University, and four human rights activists-Meeran Haider, Mohd Saleem Khan, Shadab Ahmed, and Shifa ur Rehman-who had protested against the CAA.
Khalid, Imam, and the others had approached the Supreme Court in September 2025 after the Delhi High Court denied their bail pleas. They contended that their imprisonment without evidence violated their rights.
