India’s apex court refuses bail to detained student activist Umar Khalid

DELHI: India’s Supreme Court has rejected a bail plea filed by former student leader Umar Khalid, who has been in custody for more than five years over allegations that he conspired to incite deadly communal violence.

Khalid, 38, was arrested in September 2020 under the country’s stringent anti-terrorism law and has remained jailed since then, apart from short-term releases to attend family weddings. His prolonged detention has drawn criticism from rights groups and has become emblematic of broader concerns about the treatment of Muslims in India.

The case stems from the February 2020 riots in New Delhi, which left 53 people dead, most of them Muslims, along with several Hindus. Prosecutors accuse Khalid of playing a role in orchestrating the unrest.

While dismissing his appeal, the Supreme Court ruled that prolonged incarceration alone could not be grounds for granting bail. The court issued a similar ruling in the case of another student activist, Sharjeel Imam, but approved bail for five other accused in the same matter.

A former student of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Khalid faces multiple charges, including rioting with a deadly weapon, attempted murder, sedition and promoting enmity between groups. He has consistently denied all accusations and has rejected claims that he delivered provocative speeches ahead of the violence.

In an open letter written from jail in 2022, Khalid said that those accused could be kept behind bars for years without investigators being required to prove their case. His partner has described his detention as a bitter irony, saying he became a victim of the injustice he had long opposed.

Amnesty International and several other human rights organisations have repeatedly called for Khalid’s release, arguing that his continued imprisonment violates international human rights standards and undermines the rule of law.

Khalid’s arrest followed months after nationwide protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, a controversial law passed in 2019 that eases citizenship for non-Muslim minorities from neighbouring countries while excluding Muslims.