India’s Supreme Court has upheld the continued detention of two prominent Muslim student activists, Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, rejecting their bail applications in a controversial conspiracy case connected to the nation’s deadliest religious violence outbreak in decades. The justices determined that both individuals occupied a “qualitatively different footing” compared to other defendants in the same investigation, citing their alleged central involvement in orchestrating the February 2020 Delhi riots that resulted in 53 fatalities, predominantly within the Muslim community.
The court acknowledged the significant delay in trial proceedings but maintained that this circumstance alone did not justify granting pretrial release. The violence erupted during extensive protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019, legislation widely criticized for its perceived discriminatory provisions against Muslims. Khalid and Imam emerged as leading voices in these demonstrations, which represented one of the most substantial challenges to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist administration.
Their continued incarceration under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act—a stringent anti-terrorism statute increasingly deployed against government critics—has drawn international condemnation. Recent expressions of concern from eight U.S. lawmakers joined previous criticisms from human rights organizations alleging systematic suppression of dissent. Amnesty International characterized Khalid’s imprisonment as emblematic of justice system derailment and a broader pattern of repressing freedom of expression.
Notably, the prosecution argued that the defendants deliberately engineered violence to damage India’s global reputation, while defense attorneys maintained the complete absence of credible evidence connecting their clients to the riots. This case occurs alongside numerous similar prosecutions of Muslim individuals following the Delhi violence, some of which have collapsed due to insufficient evidence.