Supreme Court defers till Jan 10 hearing on Umar Khalid's bail plea

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday deferred till January 10 hearing on a bail plea filed by former JNU scholar and student activist Umar Khalid who is behind the bars under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in the Delhi riots "larger conspiracy" case.

A bench of Justices Bela M. Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma fixed the matter along with a batch of petitions challenging the constitutionality of the UAPA for hearing on January 10, next year, adding that pleadings be completed in the meantime.

A joint request for adjournment was made before the bench from both sides as Khalid's counsel senior advocate Kapil Sibal and Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju were not available.

Earlier, the top court had issued notice to Centre and others on Khalid's plea filed under Article 32 of the Constitution challenging the provisions of the stringent anti-terror law and tagged it with other existing petitions challenging UAPA.

The student activist had also filed a special leave petition before the Supreme Court against denial of bail by the Delhi High court.

In October last year, a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Rajnish Bhatnagar of the High Court had rejected Khalid's appeal seeking regular bail.

Khalid has been behind bars for more than three years in connection with the Delhi riots 'larger conspiracy' case.

He is facing charges under the UAPA for his alleged involvement in the larger conspiracy for Delhi communal violence that broke out in February 2020.