The Supreme Court on Friday deferred to September 22 the hearing of the bail petitions filed by rights activist Umar Khalid and the others facing prosecution under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act in connection with the 2020 Delhi riots.
The bail pleas of three other accused — Sharjeel Imam, Gulfisha Fatima and Meeran Haider — were also listed on Friday before a bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and Manmohan. However, as soon as the matter came up for hearing, the bench deferred it to Monday, saying: “List on 22.09.2025.”
Several senior lawyers — Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Salman Khurshid and Siddharth Dave — were appearing for various accused persons.
Though it was not specifically stated, the court had to defer the matter because it needed detailed examination and brief arguments from both the defence and the prosecution, which would have involved considerable time.
This is the second time the bail pleas of the four accused had been deferred in the Supreme Court. The matter was listed for September 12 before a bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N.V. Anjaria.
On that day, the bench had said: “We received the files (relating to bail) in these matters at 2.30am. We did not have the time to read it fully… we will hear it on September 19.”
Khalid, in his appeal before the apex court, had contended that Delhi High Court had erroneously rejected his plea despite having no material evidence to connect him to the riots.