Supreme Court dismisses review petition filed by Umar Khalid against denial of bail in Delhi riots case

The Supreme Court has dismissed the review petition filed by Umar Khalid challenging denial of bail in the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case.

A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria dismissed the petition which challenged the top court's judgment of January 5 by which it had denied bail to Khalid.

"Prayer for oral hearing in the review petition is rejected. Delay condoned. Having gone through the review petition and also the documents enclosed, we do not find any good ground and reason to review the judgment dated 05.01.2026. Accordingly, the review petition is dismissed," the order passed on April 16 said.

The Delhi 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 Khalid and others had hatched a conspiracy to cause multiple riots.

Khalid was arrested in September 2020 and charged with criminal conspiracy, rioting, unlawful assembly as well as several other offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

He has been in jail since then.

In January this year, the top court had denied Khalid and Sharjeel Imam bail, while granting bail to five other accused - Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa ur Rehman, Shadab Ahmed and Mohd Saleem Khan.

The Court had reasoned that Khalid and Imam stood on a qualitatively different footing as compared to other accused.

The material on record discloses a prima facie case against Khalid and Imam, the Court further said.

"This court is satisfied that the prosecution material disclosed a prima facie allegation against the appellants Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam. The statutory threshold stands attracted qua these appellants. This stage of proceedings do not justify their enlargement on bail," the Court had concluded at the time.

However, the Court also said that Khalid and Imam can move for bail again on completion of examination of protected witnesses or completion of one year from the present order.

Khalid then moved the top court seeking review of this order.

[Read Order]