Delhi High Court denies bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in Delhi riots conspiracy case

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday denied bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the Delhi riots conspiracy case.

A Division Bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Dinesh Bhatt passed the order.

It observed that the Supreme Court had denied bail to Khalid and Imam in January 2026, stating that they can file for bail again after a year or after the protected witnesses have been examined.

The High Court said that since the two conditions have not been met yet, granting bail to Khalid and Imam would amount to modifying the Supreme Court order, which the High Court cannot do.

“In view of the above discussion and overall facts of these cases, specifically the conditions imposed by the Supreme Court in Gulfisha Fatima, this court cannot find fault with the order passed by the trial court. The present appeals are therefore dismissed,” the court said. 

This is the third time the High Court has denied bail to Khalid. Imam has been denied bail for the second time.

The most recent order of the top court came in January 2026 when five people were granted bail, but Khalid and Imam were declined relief .

They then filed the present round of bail petitions.

They first moved the trial court which rejected their pleas on July 4, prompting them to approach the High Court.

Notably, Khalid and Imam's bail pleas relied on the Supreme Court's judgment in a different case of Syed Iftikhar Andrabi wherein a different bench of the top court questioned the apex court's denial of bail to Khalid and Imam in the January 2026 verdict.

Khalid and Imam's pleas argued that the same amounts to a change in circumstances.

However, the police countered that the judgment of a coordinate bench in a different case cannot override the specific findings and directions passed by the Supreme Court in Khalid and Imam's own case.

Senior Advocate Trideep Pais appeared for Umar Khalid and argued that he is entitled to bail because the trial is not likely to conclude any time soon.

He said that, in terms of the view expressed by the Supreme Court in Syed Iftikhar Andrabi and the Tasleem Ahmed cases, because of the delay in trial, Khalid is entitled to bail. 

He added that there are a total of 18 accuse dint eh case and majority of the persons have been granted bail by the top court. 

Advocate Talib Mustafa appeared for Sharjeel Imam and argued that in its January 2026 order, while denying bail to Imam and Khalid, the Supreme Court had said that their continued incarceration without progress in the trial will be a ground to seek bail. 

Mustafa said that since the trial has not progressed, they are entitled to bail. 

Meanwhile, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju appeared for the prosecution and stated that Khalid and Imam’s role cannot be equated to the people granted bail in the case. 

Raju added that according to the Supreme Court order, Khalid and Imam can only seek bail after January 2027 or when the protected witnesses have been examined.