Shortly after another door was closed to him after spending five years in jail, activist and former JNU student Umar Khalid remarked that being imprisoned is his life now and expressed happiness that five other people had been granted bail.
The Supreme Court on Monday denied bail to Khalid and fellow student activist Sharjeel Imam in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case, stating it was satisfied there was enough material to indicate their involvement in the criminal conspiracy. It did, however, grant the relief to five others named in the case – activists Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, Mohd Saleem Khan, and Shadab Ahmed – stating that they were not on equal footing with Khalid and Imam.
“Those alleged to have conceived, directed, or steered unlawful activity or terrorist activity stand on a different legal footing from those whose alleged involvement is confined to facilitation or participation at a different level. To disregard such distinctions would itself result in arbitrariness,” the bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria said.
Khalid’s partner Banojyotsna Lahiri posted on X that when she spoke to Khalid after the court verdict, she told him she would go to meet him at the Tihar Jail, where he is being held, on Tuesday.
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