Delhi riots case hearing LIVE: SC to continue hearing bail pleas of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, others

The Supreme Court on Monday (October 27, 2025) expressed displeasure over the Delhi Police’s failure to file counter-affidavits to the bail pleas of activists Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima, and Shifa-ur-Rehman in the larger conspiracy case linked to the 2020 Delhi riots.

Additional Solicitor-General S.V. Raju, appearing for the Delhi Police, sought two more weeks to file the counter-affidavit, stating that he was appearing in the matter for the first time and was unaware of the earlier proceedings.

Declining the request, a Bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N.V. Anjaria observed that the police had already been granted ample opportunity. “You may be appearing for the first time, but we have granted sufficient time. Last time, we remember, we said issue notice. Then we said in open court that we would hear this matter on October 27 and dispose it off,” the Bench told Mr. Raju.

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The Delhi Police on Thursday (October 30, 2025) argued in the Supreme Court that former JNU student leader Umar Khalid and his co-accused conspired to use “sponsored” anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests as a camouflage and a “radicalising catalyst” to engineer nation-wide communal riots to achieve the final goal of a regime change.

The police said Khalid, who has been behind bars for five years without bail, and others like Sharjeel Imam, Meeran Haider, Shifa Ur Rahman, Mohd. Saleem Khan and Gulfisha Fatima had conspired to instigate communal riots and armed rebellion to coincide with the visit of U.S. President Donald Trump to India. They wanted to grab the attention of the international media and portray CAA as a pogrom against the Muslim community here, the police affidavit said.

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