The Delhi High Court on Friday granted jailed student activist Umar Khalid interim bail for three days from June 1 to 3 to attend to his mother, who is due to undergo a surgery.
A division bench of Justices Prathiba Singh and Madhu Jain recorded that it is taking an “empathetic view”, while noting that Khalid was denied regular bail by the Supreme Court in January as he appeared to be one of the “prime conspirators” in the 2020 northeast Delhi larger conspiracy case under the stringent UAPA.
Khalid sought interim bail for 15 days to attend the 40th day death ritual of his uncle as well as to take care of his mother who is due to undergo a minor surgery. He has earlier been released thrice on interim bail during the period of his incarceration as an undertrial.
“The court is also conscious of the fact that the regular bail application was rejected by the SC on January 5, the appellant being one of the prime conspirators… However, taking an empathetic view that his mother is due to undergo surgery, this court is inclined to grant interim bail from June 1, 7 am to June 3, 5 pm,” the bench recorded. The court did not grant him interim bail to attend his uncle’s death ritual.
While ASG SV Raju, appearing for Delhi Police on Friday, impressed that Khalid be released only with police escort, the court did not order for the same.
The court has ordered him to furnish surety and personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and also restrained him from moving beyond NCR region, permitting him to stay at his residence at Jamia Nagar and to visit the hospital only.
On May 19, a day after the Supreme Court, while underlining that bail is the rule and jail an exception even in UAPA cases, expressed “serious reservations” on the decision of one of its own benches to deny bail to activist Umar Khalid in the 2020 Delhi riots case, a Delhi court had declined to grant him interim bail.
While noting that Khalid and other co-accused in the case have “never flouted conditions imposed by the court”, it, however, recorded: “But it doesn’t mean that on every occasion, whenever the accused seeks bail, the court should grant it.”
In January, a division bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria, while granting bail to five accused in the larger conspiracy case, had declined bail to Khalid and activist Sharjeel Imam, saying they stood on a “higher footing in the hierarchy of participation”. The court had observed that prolonged incarceration cannot be an “absolute entitlement” to seek bail in terror cases.
