Four years after the Delhi police booked student activist Umar Khalid terming him a “key conspirator” in the February 2020 north-east Delhi riots, he is still languishing inside the Tihar Jail without trial or bail. Khalid has approached multiple courts, seeking bail, which the Supreme Court on several occasions has held as a ‘rule’ even applicable to offences under special statutes like the UAPA. On 18 December 2024, he was granted a 7-day interim bail for attending a family marriage.
Khalid was born in Jamia Nagar, New Delhi, and has lived there for the last 30 years. His father, Syed Qasim Rasool Ilyas, is from Maharashtra, while his mother is from Western Uttar Pradesh. He studied history at the Kirori Mal College of Delhi University. He later earned his master’s and MPhil in history at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). He describes himself as a hardcore communist who is not a practising Muslim.
The Delhi High Court on January 21, 2025 told the prosecution that it cannot endlessly hear submissions against the bail applications of activists Umar Khalid and seven others in the 2020 riots case. Khalid was booked under the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and provisions of the IPC 2020 in connection with the northeast Delhi riots, which left 53 people dead and over 700 injured. The 36-year-old researcher and scholar was arrested in the case in September 2020.
