Umar Khalid's bail hearing postponed to November 1, SC withholds decision on Bilkis Bano's appeal

The bail hearing for former JNU student leader Umar Khalid, who has been detained for three years in connection with a terror case involving a purported "conspiracy" to instigate communal riots in Delhi in February 2020, was postponed until November 1st on Thursday.

Khalid had requested parity with co-accused Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, and Asif Iqbal Tanha, who have all been granted bail, as his bail hearing had been postponed multiple times.

"He is a young scholar pursuing a PhD who has spent the last three years behind bars. It keeps continuing on forever. What's going on?" At a brief hearing, prominent counsel Kapil Sibal, speaking on behalf of Khalid, informed the bench of Justices Bela M. Trivedi and Dipankar Datta.

According to Sibal, Khalid was not involved in any "overt act," and the accusations made against him were connected to "some conspiracy" that was still unproven. He emphasized that the trial had not yet begun and that co-accused Narwal, Tanha, and Kalita had all been granted bail.

"There is no possibility that the charges will be brought in this case. How much longer will the authorities keep him incarcerated? Sibal enquired.

S.V. Raju, an additional solicitor general, disagreed with the bail request. He described Khalid's charges as "serious," adding that the accused was causing the trial to drag out by submitting many interlocutory appeals to both the trial court and the Delhi High Court.

Raju stated, "They (the accused) are filing applications; they are purposefully not allowing the charges to be framed."

"Due to paucity of time," the bench announced that the matter would be postponed until November 1.

Sibal declared that it would simply take "20 minutes to demonstrate" that Khalid's accusations are unfounded. However, the bench stated that on November 1, it will hear more arguments.

Following Khalid's bail request was denied by the Delhi High Court, the appeal was repeatedly postponed by the highest court for several reasons.

On August 9, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, a member of a previous bench, withdrew from the proceedings. There is no established procedure for revealing a recusal's motivations.

If a judge has previously represented a party in the case or has a personal reason to do so, they typically withdraw from the case.

Bilkis Bano. Original image

Case of Bilkis Bano: Supreme Court withholds decision

On Thursday, the Supreme Court postponed making a decision on Bilkis Bano's appeal, which opposed the early release of the 11 prisoners who had sexually assaulted her and slain other members of her family.

A bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan had stated during the 12-day hearings that it will look at the matter from a number of legal perspectives, including the rights of the victims of such horrible acts.

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