The Supreme Court issued notice to the Delhi Police today, Monday, September 22, on pleas filed by Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima, and Shifa Ur Rehman seeking bail in the Delhi riots “larger conspiracy” case. 

A bench consisting of Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice NV Anjaria will hear the case again on October 7. Senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Siddharth Dave, and others appeared for the petitioners, LiveLaw reported.

Advocate Singhvi stated that the petitioners are students who have been incarcerated for more than five years. He stated that the petitioners had also applied for interim bail, which was not pressed today. 

He also requested that a notice be issued on the interim bail application. Justice Kumar stated that the Court will finally rule on the main petition itself.

Then, Advocate Sibal requested the bench to consider their appeals before Diwali, so that they may be released before the festival (a 5-day holiday period for the court).

The petitions were filed in response to the Delhi High Court's decision on September 2 to dismiss their bail applications. A division bench of Justice Naveen Chawla and Justice Shalinder Kaur issued the ruling in FIR 59 of 2020, which was filed by the Delhi Police's Special Cell.

The petitioners, who were student activists at the forefront of organising anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in 2019-2020, are facing charges under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for allegedly plotting the "larger conspiracy" behind the communal riots that occurred in the national capital in the last week of February 2020.