The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the six accused persons in the Delhi riots conspiracy case to furnish their permanent addresses to the court.

A Bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria passed the direction while hearing the bail pleas filed by the six accused - Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shadab Ahmed and Mohd Saleem Khan.

"Give the present address of each of them," the Court said.

"Permanent address? Present address is jail," Senior Advocate Siddhartha Dave, appearing for one of the accused, said.

"Erstwhile address," Justice Kumar replied.

"I’ll ask them to furnish," Dave said.

The Court also said that the arguments in the matter have been going on for long and the lawyers appearing in the case should cut short their submissions.

"You are arguing a bail matter as though it’s a second appeal," the Bench remarked.

It then proceeded to set a time limit for further arguments.

"Arguments have been advanced by both sides substantially. We are of the view that time schedule is required to be fixed. Oral arguments shall not exceed 15 minutes each and clarification by ASG will not exceed 30 minutes," the Court said in its order.

The Court then posted the matter for further hearing on December 9.

Khalid and others moved the top court against the Delhi High Court's September 2 order denying them bail. The top court had issued notice to the police on September 22.

The riots occurred in February 2020 following clashes over the then-proposed Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). As per the Delhi Police, the riots caused the death of 53 persons and injured hundreds.

The present case pertains to allegations that the accused had hatched a larger conspiracy to cause multiple riots. The FIR in this case was registered by a Special Cell of the Delhi Police under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Khalid was arrested in September 2020 and charged with criminal conspiracy, rioting, unlawful assembly as well as several other offences under UAPA.

He has been in jail since then.

Imam too was booked in multiple FIRs across several States, mostly under sedition and UAPA charges. Though he secured bail in other matters, he is yet to get bail in the present case on larger consipracy.

On September 2, the Delhi High Court denied the accused bail, prompting Khalid and the others to move the Supreme Court for relief. The top court had issued notice to the police on September 22.

In response to the bail petitions, the Delhi Police filed an affidavit contending that there is irrefutable documentary and technical evidence pointing to a conspiracy for a "regime-change operation" and plans to incite nationwide riots on communal lines and kill non-Muslims.

During the hearing of the matter on October 31, the riots accused told the Court that they did not make any calls for violence and were only exercising their right to peaceful protests against the CAA.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police argued that the six accused cannot seek parity with the three other accused who were granted bail earlier by the Delhi High Court.

On November 18, Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta argued on behalf of the Delhi police that the riots were pre-planned and not spontaneous. He added that speeches made by the accused were made with the intent to divide society on communal lines.

On November 20, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju added that the delay in the trial was attributable to the accused.

Similar arguments were made on November 21 as well, when the police contended that the accused had tried to effect a regime change in India through riots like those which took place recently in Bangladesh and Nepal.

During yesterday's hearing of the matter, the accused argued that their prolonged incarceration as undertrial prisoners will make "a caricature" out of India's criminal justice system and denied allegations that they were responsible for delays in the Delhi riots trial.

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