A Delhi Court on Tuesday ( 19 May 2026) denied bail to activist Umar Khalid who sought a 15-day interim bail to take care of his ailing mother and attend the 40-day post death ritual of his uncle.
Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai of the Karkardooma Courts stated that the grounds raised for the bail plea were unreasonable. The judge further stated that just because Khalid had been granted interim bail earlier and also because he has not violated bail conditions do not mean that interim bail should be allowed every time it is sought.
The verdict comes a day after the Supreme Court expressed reservations about its own January 5 order denying bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam. A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan stated that “bail is the rule and jail is an exception” even in UAPA cases.
Khalid has been incarcerated under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for being the alleged masterminds of the 2020 Delhi riots against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC). 53 people died in the riots and over 700 people were injured.