The Delhi High Court on Monday (August 1) rejected activist Umar Khalid’s plea for bail in the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots conspiracy case, prompting his partner Banojyotsna Lahiri to state that the Supreme Court is now their “only option,” PTI reported.

Khalid, who has been lodged in jail since September 2020 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), has spent five years behind bars without trial.

Speaking to the news agency, in response to the latest order, Lahiri said, “Keeping someone in jail for five years without trial is itself a ground for bail. We’re disappointed by the court’s decision but remain hopeful. The fight for justice will now move to the Supreme Court.”

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) announced it will hold a solidarity march on September 13 to mark the fifth anniversary of Khalid’s arrest.

The High Court upheld a trial court decision rejecting bail for Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, and seven others, accepting the prosecution’s submission that the riots were not spontaneous but the result of a “well-planned conspiracy.”

A former JNU research scholar, Khalid has been granted interim bail twice during his incarceration — once in December 2022 and again in December 2024 — for short periods.

The riots in February 2020, which broke out in the midst of anti-CAA protests, left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.