The Supreme Court on Monday (September 22) agreed to examine the bail pleas of student activists Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Gulfisha Fatima and Meeran Haider in the larger conspiracy case related to the 2020 Delhi riots.

A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N.V. Anjaria issued notice to the Delhi Police and scheduled the hearing for October 7.

Justice Kumar clarified why the matter could not be taken up earlier on September 19.

“We could not hear this on Friday since Justice Manmohan could not hear it.” Justice Manmohan was previously an associate in the chamber of senior advocate Kapil Sibal, Live Law reported.

Appearing for Gulfisha, senior advocate A.M. Singhvi urged the court to also consider interim bail, pointing out that the activists had already spent five years in jail. The bench, however, said it would hear the case on the next date and dispose of the main petition.

The petitioners’ counsel requested for an earlier date of hearing. “Before Diwali, so that they can be out by Diwali. They are all there for more than five years,” Sibal, representing Khalid, told the court.

Earlier this month, on September 2, the Delhi High Court had dismissed the bail appeals of Khalid, Imam, Fatima and others charged in the larger conspiracy case.

Among the others seeking bail are Athar Khan, Khalid Saifi, Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa ur Rehman, Meeran Haider and Shadab Ahmed, Live Law reported.

A bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur had reserved its order on July 9, following hearings that began on December 6, 2024.

In a separate order, another bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad and Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar had also denied bail to co-accused Tasleem Ahmed.

Khalid, first arrested on September 14, 2020, has been in custody since then, barring interim bail he received from December 28 to January 3 earlier this year to attend his cousin sister’s wedding.