"Grounds Raised Unreasonable": Umar Khalid Denied Interim Bail

A Delhi court has denied interim bail to former JNU student leader Umar Khalid, saying grounds raised Are "unreasonable". Khalid had sought release for 15 days to attend his mother's surgery and rituals following the death of his uncle. The activist has been in jail for more than five years.

Khalid has been accused of conspiracy in connection with the riots that broke out in northeast Delhi in February 2020 during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA and the National Register of Citizens or NRC. It had left 53 people dead and more than 700 injured.

The Delhi Police had arrested 18 people in the conspiracy case. Of them, 11 have got bail so far.

Last month, the Supreme Court had dismissed a plea from Khalid seeking review of a verdict denying him bail. The judges said there are reasonable grounds to believe the allegations levelled against him.

"Having gone through the review petition and also the documents enclosed, we do not find any good ground and reason to review the judgment dated January 5, 2026. Accordingly, the review petition is dismissed," the bench said in its order issued on April 16.

Yesterday, though, the top court had expressed serious reservations about its recent verdict denying bail to Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, saying "bail is the rule and jail the exception" even in cases under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). 

A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said an earlier judgment rejecting bail to Khalid and Imam appeared to dilute the binding precedent laid down by a larger bench in the landmark Union of India vs KA Najeeb case.

"They cannot dilute, circumvent or disregard binding precedent," Justice Bhuyan had said.

The two judges who denied bail to Khalid had ignored a binding three-judge bench judgment of the Supreme Court which said bail is rule and jail an exception, he had added.