India: Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam go back to Supreme Court for bail

Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam have asked the Supreme Court for bail once more, having spent over six years in jail. Elsewhere, the top court has clarified when the 24-hour clock for producing an arrested person starts. Activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam approached the Supreme Court on Thursday for bail once again in the 2020 Delhi riots "larger conspiracy" case.

They are challenging a September 30 Delhi High Court order that rejected their pleas, Bar and Bench reported. The pleas had not yet been listed for hearing. The High Court held that judicial discipline bound it to the Supreme Court's January 5 order and that it could not alter the terms set there.

In that order, the top court refused bail to the two while granting relief to five co-accused, saying they "stand on a qualitatively different footing as compared to other accused," local media reported. The ruling allowed them to reapply once the protected witnesses had been examined or a year had passed, whichever came first.