Delhi HC grants interim 3-day bail to Umar Khalid

Delhi High Court grants Umar Khalid three-day interim bail for his mother's surgery, despite previous bail denial by the Supreme Court.

The Delhi High Court on Friday granted three-day interim bail to former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Umar Khalid in the alleged larger conspiracy case linked to the 2020 Delhi riots, in view of his mother’s surgery.

Khalid moved the high court against the trial court’s May 19 order refusing him 15 days’ interim bail to attend the Chehlum (40th day ceremony) of his deceased uncle and visit his mother, who is scheduled to undergo surgery. (Representative photo)

A bench of justices Prathiba M Singh and Madhu Jain said the bail would commence at 7am on June 1 and end at 8pm on June 3. The court noted that the Supreme Court had rejected Khalid’s bail on January 5, but granted him relief by “taking an empathetic view”.

“The appellant has been released on interim bail in the past, and the court is aware of the fact that the regular bail application was rejected by the Supreme Court in the judgment of Gulfisha Fatima, where the Supreme Court held the appellant to be one of the prime conspirators,” the bench said. “However, taking an empathetic view that the mother has to go for surgery, the court is inclined to grant interim bail for three days to meet the mother from June 1 to June 3,”

Khalid had moved the high court against the trial court’s May 19 order refusing him 15-day interim bail to attend the Chehlum (40th day post-death ceremony) of his uncle and visit his mother who is scheduled to undergo surgery.

In the impugned order, additional sessions judge Sameer Bajpai of the Karkardooma courts held that the grounds cited by Khalid for seeking interim bail were not reasonable.