NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Wednesday allowed activist Umar Khalid’s plea seeking restoration of two video meetings with his family every week in jail. The court observed that Khalid had been using the facility for the past six years without violating any jail rules.The order comes after jail authorities reduced the number of weekly video meetings from two to one in May 2026.The Karkardooma Court directed that Khalid’s earlier facility be restored, observing that there was no material to justify the reduction.Allowing the plea, the court observed that Khalid had been availing the facility for six years without any breach of prison rules and found no reason to continue the restriction.Khalid has been lodged in jail in connection with the larger conspiracy case linked to the February 2020 northeast Delhi riots.The case relates to allegations that Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and several others were part of a larger conspiracy behind the riots that broke out during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC). The violence claimed 53 lives and left more than 700 people injured.The accused have been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code.The latest order comes days after a Delhi court rejected fresh bail pleas filed by Khalid and Imam. They had argued that their prolonged incarceration without the trial beginning violated their fundamental right to personal liberty and cited recent Supreme Court observations that “bail is the rule” even under the UAPA in appropriate cases.However, the court dismissed their pleas, observing that the Supreme Court had already refused them bail on January 5, 2026, while granting relief to five co-accused. The apex court had held that Khalid and Imam stood on a “qualitatively different footing” because of their alleged role in the larger conspiracy. It had also directed that they could renew their bail pleas only after protected witnesses were examined or after one year, whichever was earlier.
