Today, the Supreme Court sought a response from the Delhi Police on a plea of former JNU student Umar Khalid seeking bail in a UAPA case.

The division bench of Justices AS Bopanna and Hima Kohli issued a notice to the Delhi government and sought its response in six weeks.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Umar Khalid, submitted that on the date of the incident, he was not there.

The bench said it is issuing notice and granted liberty to seek a listing of the matter vacation bench.

The Counsel said that the matter be listed after the vacation. To this, division The bench posted the matter for further hearing after the summer vacation of the apex court, which is starting from May 22 and coming to an end on July 2.

In his appeal, Khalid has challenged the orders of the Delhi High Court to reject his bail in the UAPA case in which he is in custody for over two years.

Last year, in October Delhi High Court rejected his bail plea saying he was in constant touch with other co-accused and allegations against him are prima facie true.

The high court also said the actions of the accused prima facie qualified as “terrorist acts” under the anti-terror law UAPA.

Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, and several others have been booked under the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and provisions of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly being the "masterminds" of the February 2020 riots, which left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.

The violence had erupted during the protests against CAA and NRC.

Khalid, arrested by Delhi Police in September 2020 has sought bail on grounds that he neither had any criminal role in the violence nor any "conspiratorial connect" with any other accused in the case.

While opposing the bail plea of Khalid, Delhi Police, in the High Court, submitted that the speech delivered by him was “very calculated” and brought up issues like Babri Masjid, triple talaq, Kashmir, the alleged suppression of Muslims and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC).