Delhi High Court: Denies Bail to Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam in Delhi Riots Case

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday denied bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the Delhi riots conspiracy case. A Division Bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Dinesh Bhatt passed the order. Justice Prathiba M Singh, Justice Dinesh BhattIt observed that the Supreme Court had denied bail to Khalid and Imam in January 2026, stating that they can file for bail again after a year or after the protected witnesses have been examined. The High Court said that since the two conditions have not been met yet, granting bail to Khalid and Imam would amount to modifying the Supreme Court order, which the High Court cannot do.“In view of the above discussion and overall facts of these cases, specifically the conditions imposed by the Supreme Court in Gulfisha Fatima, this court cannot find fault with the order passed by the trial court. The present appeals are therefore dismissed,” the court said. This is the third time the High Court has denied bail to Khalid. Imam has been denied bail for the second time. The most recent order of the top court came in January 2026 when five people were granted bail, but Khalid and Imam were declined relief .They then filed the present round of bail petitions. They first moved the trial court which rejected their pleas on July 4, prompting them to approach the High Court. Notably, Khalid and Imam's bail pleas relied on the Supreme Court's judgment in a different case of Syed Iftikhar Andrabi wherein a different bench of the top court questioned