On 5 January, the Supreme Court denied Umar Khalid (and Sharjeel Imam) bail, while letting rapist Ram Rahim out on his 15th parole. Co-accused in what is being described as the ‘Delhi riots larger conspiracy case’ — Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima, Shifa Ur Rehman, Shadab Ahmed and Saleem Khan — were granted bail.

As the Amnesty International website states: all are ‘human rights defenders who have spent more than five years in pre-trial detention on terrorism-related charges following their peaceful participation in protests against the discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).’

On 11 August 2023, when Umar Khalid turned 36 — in jail — Aakar Patel wrote him a letter. Even as that moment of reflection from three years ago strikes us anew, we turn to Patel’s response to the latest Supreme Court judgement in his capacity as chair of the board of Amnesty International India:

“While we welcome the court’s decision to grant bail to their co-accused, it is shameful that Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam continue to be denied bail. Neither of these individuals should be in detention in the first place. They have been detained for more than five years without trial on politically motivated allegations — the charges against them should be dropped and their release should be unconditional.”

The Supreme Court also imposed exceptionally harsh restrictions on future bail applications by Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam. It ruled that they could seek bail only after the prosecution........

© National Herald