The Supreme Court is set to pronounce orders on the bail pleas of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and three others in the Delhi riots case on 5 January after the apex court re-opens following the winter break.
On December 10, 2025, the Supreme Court reserved its verdict on bail pleas of those accused in the UAPA case related to the alleged conspiracy behind the February 2020 riots in Delhi.
The case was heard by a bench comprising Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria, who listened to arguments from Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, and senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Singhvi, Siddhartha Dave, Salman Khurshid and Sidharth Luthra.
Strongly opposing the bail pleas of activist Umar, Sharjeel and others, the Delhi Police had said the February 2020 riots were not something spontaneous, but an "orchestrated, pre-planned and well-designed" attack on India's sovereignty.
What are the charges against Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, others?
Umar, Sharjeel and other accused were booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA) anti-terror law and provisions of the erstwhile IPC for allegedly being the "masterminds" of the 2020 riots, which left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.
The violence erupted during widespread protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The accused moved the apex court challenging a Delhi High Court order dated 2 September – denying them bail in the "larger conspiracy" case of the February 2020 riots.
Besides Khalid and Imam, those who faced bail rejection are Fatima, Haider, Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa-ur-Rehman, Athar Khan, Abdul Khalid Saifi and Shadab Ahmed.
