Sharjeel Imam told the court that he is not a terrorist, as the police have portrayed him. He is a citizen of this country, a citizen by birth, and has not been convicted of any crime.

Supreme Court to hear bail pleas of Delhi riots accused

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (December 3, 2025) directed lawyers representing those accused in the February 2020 Delhi riots to limit their oral arguments to 15 minutes. A bench of Justices Arvind Kumar and N.V. Anjaria stated that Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju would be given 30 minutes to provide clarifications on the arguments made by the lawyers representing the accused.

Arguments have been presented by both sides. We believe a timetable needs to be set. Oral arguments should not exceed 15 minutes, and clarifications by the ASG should not exceed 30 minutes," the bench said, posting the matter for December 9. The court also directed the lawyers representing the accused to submit their permanent addresses.

While seeking bail in the case, activist Sharjeel Imam had on Tuesday expressed his displeasure before the Supreme Court over being labelled a 'dangerous intellectual terrorist' without any full trial or any conviction.

Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, appearing for Imam, said, "He is not a terrorist, as the defendants (police) have said. He is not anti-national, as the government has said. He is a citizen of this country, a citizen by birth, and has not been convicted of any crime so far."

They argued that Imam was arrested on January 28, 2020, which was before the communal violence in Northeast Delhi. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Umar Khalid, argued that his client was not in Delhi when the riots broke out in February 2020 and cannot be held in confinement.

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Gulfisha Fatima, told the court that the activist had spent six years in jail and described the delay in the trial as "astonishing and unprecedented." Strongly opposing the bail pleas of Khalid, Imam, and others, the Delhi Police said the February 2020 riots were not a spontaneous incident but a "planned, premeditated, and well-orchestrated" attack on India's sovereignty.

Khalid, Imam, Fatima, Meeran Haider and Shifa ur Rehman have been booked under the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and provisions of the Indian Penal Code for being the alleged "masterminds" of the riots, which left 53 people dead and over 700 injured. The violence erupted during widespread protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act ( CAA ) and the National Register of Citizens.