The bail plea of former JNU student Umar Khalid and student activist Sharjeel Imam will be heard by the Delhi High Court on November 25 in connection with a UAPA case linked to the alleged larger conspiracy behind the communal riots in February 2020.

In addition to their pleas, similar requests from other co-accused in the case, including 'United Against Hate' founder Khalid Saifi and others, were also scheduled for a new hearing on Monday before a bench comprising Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur.

However, the bench did not convene. 

Earlier, the cases were under a bench led by Justice Suresh Kumar Kait, who has since been transferred to serve as the Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

Khalid, Imam, and several others have been charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code, accused of being the "masterminds" behind the February 2020 riots that resulted in 53 deaths and over 700 injuries. The violence erupted during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Khalid, who was arrested by the Delhi Police in September 2020, is challenging a trial court order from May 28 that denied him bail. The Delhi High Court issued a notice on his appeal in July.

The bail pleas of Imam, Saifi, and other accused were filed in 2022 and have been presented before various benches intermittently since then. Imam, in his appeal submitted in 2022, is contesting a trial court order from April 11, 2022, which also denied him bail. He was arrested in this case on August 25, 2020.

On May 28, the trial court rejected Khalid's request for regular bail for the second time, stating that its earlier dismissal of his initial bail application had become final.

"When the Delhi High Court has already dismissed the criminal appeal of the applicant (Khalid) vide order dated October 18, 2022, and thereafter, the applicant approached the Supreme Court and withdrew his petition, the order of this court as passed on March 24, 2022 (on the first bail plea), has attained finality and now, in no stretch of imagination this court can make analysis of the facts of the case as desired by the applicant and consider the relief as prayed by him," the trial court had said.

On October 18, 2022, the Delhi High Court upheld the rejection of Khalid's initial bail plea, stating that the allegations made by the city police against him are prima facie credible. The court noted that the anti-CAA protests had "metamorphosed into violent riots," which appeared to have been orchestrated through conspiratorial meetings. Furthermore, the statements of witnesses suggested Khalid's "active involvement" in the protests.