Delhi High Court judge Justice Amit Sharma on July 22 recused himself from hearing the bail plea of former JNU student Umar Khalid in an Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) case related to the alleged larger conspiracy behind the riots here in February 2020.
The matter was listed for hearing before a division Bench of Justice Prathiba M. Singh and Justice Sharma. “List before another Bench, of which Justice Amit Sharma is not a member, on July 24,” the Bench ordered. The judge did not assign any reason for the recusal.
Mr. Khalid, who was arrested by the Delhi police in September 2020, has challenged a May 28 trial court order refusing to grant him bail in the case.
Also read: Umar Khalid’s bail plea: A timeline of court hearings and adjournments
The police have accused Mr. Khalid of planning protests at 23 places which allegedly led to the Delhi riots in 2020. He was then charged with criminal conspiracy, rioting, unlawful assembly, as well as several other offences under the anti-terror law, UAPA, and has been lodged in jail since then.
The trial court had denied bail to Mr. Khalid for the first time in March 2022, following which he had approached the Delhi High Court, which too denied any relief to him in October 2022.
Mr. Khalid had filed a bail application in the Supreme Court, which, in May 2023, had sought a response from the Delhi police in the matter. His plea before the top court was then adjourned 14 times after which Mr Khalid’s counsel, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, informed the Court that the bail plea was being withdrawn.
He had then approached the trial court after the withdrawal on February 14, 2024. He had sought regular bail in the matter on the grounds of delay and parity with the other accused in the Delhi riots case.
Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and Asif Iqbal Tanha — all accused in the Delhi riots’ larger conspiracy case — were granted bail by the Delhi High Court in the past.
