SC adjourns hearing on Umar Khalid's bail plea

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned hearing on a bail plea filed by former JNU scholar and student activist Umar Khalid who is behind bars under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in the Delhi riots "larger conspiracy" case.

A bench, headed by Justice Bela M. Trivedi, could not take up the matter for hearing, including the clutch of petitions challenging the constitutionality of the UAPA, due to paucity of time.

"We will keep it tomorrow," the bench, also comprising Justice J.B. Varale, told senior advocate Kapil Sibal.

In response, Sibal, who appeared on Khalid’s behalf, submitted that he will not be available for arguing the case on Thursday as he will be before the 7-judge Constitution Bench hearing the issue of minority status of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).

Further, it was suggested that the hearing on other connected items challenging the provisions of anti-terror law may commence.

As the bench rose for the day, it said: "We will see tomorrow."

Last week, the top court adjourned hearing the batch of petitions because Justice Trivedi had to hold other scheduled special sittings.

The top court had earlier stressed that the matter requires hearing because Khalid is behind bars and expressed reservations on adjourning the case.

"We will not grant any adjournment…The impression goes that the Court is not taking up the matter," it had remarked.

Khalid had approached the Supreme Court after a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar of the Delhi High Court had rejected his appeal seeking regular bail on October 18, 2022.

A trial court had earlier denied him bail in connection with the UAPA case.