On September 3, 2025, the Delhi High Court rejected bail for Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case. Both men have now spent five years in prison without trial even beginning. Their situation illustrates the deeper problem with India’s anti-terror law, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA): it makes bail nearly impossible, ensuring that the process itself becomes punishment.
The principle that “bail is the rule, jail the exception” has been eroded. Under UAPA, courts only need to accept the prosecution’s claims as prima facie true, which locks accused individuals into years of incarceration. From the Bhima Koregaon activists to Jesuit priest Father Stan Swamy—who died in custody—to professor G.N. Saibaba, acquitted after nearly a decade, and journalists like Siddique Kappan and Prabir Purkayastha, the pattern is the same: dissent silenced through endless detention.
India’s prisons are already 76% undertrial. The use of UAPA magnifies this crisis, hollowing out Article 21’s promise of personal liberty. If there is evidence, trials must conclude swiftly. If not, bail should follow. What democracy cannot justify is the indefinite suspension of freedom in the name of national security.
What just happened
On September 3, 2025, the Delhi High Court dismissed the bail pleas of former JNU students Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, and of several co-accused in the 2020 Northeast Delhi “larger conspiracy” case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). A coordinate bench separately dismissed the plea of Tasleem Ahmed the same day. The court said they were not entitled to parity with co-accused Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal, who were granted regular bail on June 15, 2021.
The case & charges, and where the trial stands
Allegations: The prosecution alleges a “larger conspiracy” around anti-CAA protests that culminated in the February 2020 riots (53 dead, ~700 injured). Charges include criminal conspiracy, sedition (as originally invoked), promoting enmity, and UAPA §13/§18 offences.
Procedural status: Even after five years, the case has been stuck around arguments on framing of charges—a reality Delhi High Court judges themselves flagged in July 2025 while questioning continued incarceration amid a 700-witness roster.
The court’s latest orders reiterate that “parity” (others getting bail) isn’t automatic and that UAPA’s bar on bail applies if allegations appear prima facie true from the case diary.
“Bail is the rule” — and the exceptions swallowing it
Indian bail law famously begins with Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer’s dictum in State of Rajasthan v. Balchand (1977/78)—“bail, not jail.” The Supreme Court has since underlined that prolonged incarceration can justify bail even under UAPA—see Union of India v. K.A. Najeeb (2021)—and issued broader directions to curb undertrial detention in Satender Kumar Antil v. CBI (2022). But UAPA’s Section 43D(5) creates a high bail threshold that, in practice, often eclipses these principles.
The wider pattern: journalists, scholars, students, HRDs
Below are emblematic UAPA and related “national security” cases showing years-long pre-trial detention, rare trials, and—at times—fatal outcomes.
1. Bhima Koregaon/Elgar Parishad (2018– )
A sweeping UAPA case against lawyers, academics, artists.
2. On bail (after years): Sudha Bharadwaj (2021), Anand Teltumbde (2022), Vernon Gonsalves & Arun Ferreira (2023), and poet Varavara Rao (permanent medical bail, 2023). Journalist Gautam Navlakha moved to house arrest (2022) and later secured regular bail (2024).
3. Deceased while incarcerated: Fr. Stan Swamy (1937–2021), 84-year-old Jesuit and Adivasi rights defender, died in judicial custody awaiting medical bail.
4. Trial status: Fragmented; multiple accused still face proceedings; evidence controversies persist. (Forensic-tampering allegations have circulated in press/independent probes, but bail orders cited constitutional liberty without deciding those claims.)
5. G.N. Saibaba & others (Maharashtra UAPA case)
After a decade-long ordeal, the Bombay High Court re-acquitted Prof. G.N. Saibaba and five others on March 5, 2024; the Supreme Court refused to stay the acquittal on March 11, 2024. One co-accused, Pandu Narote, had already died in prison in 2022. (Saibaba was released; he later died in October 2024 due to medical complications after surgery.)
6. NewsClick UAPA case (2023– )
Delhi Police arrested Prabir Purkayastha (editor-founder) under UAPA. The Supreme Court ordered his release in May 2024, holding the arrest illegal because grounds of arrest were not supplied—underscoring due-process deficits.
7. Kashmir human-rights & media cases
8. Khurram Parvez (JKCCS): Arrested under UAPA in Nov 2021; detention continues with NIA prosecutions; the UN and rights groups have repeatedly called for his release.
9. Irfan Mehraj (journalist/rights researcher): Arrested March 2023 under UAPA; remains jailed pending trial.
10. Journalists Fahad Shah and Asif Sultan have faced cycles of UAPA/PSA detention and re-arrest; long spells of incarceration persist.
11. Siddique Kappan (Hathras, 2020)
Booked under UAPA while en route to cover a rape case; SC granted bail (Sept 2022) after nearly two years in jail—again highlighting how process becomes the punishment.
How many are dying or still languishing?
Deaths in custody (illustrative):
Fr. Stan Swamy (2021) — died awaiting trial/bail in the Bhima Koregaon matter.
Pandu Narote (co-accused in Saibaba case) — died in prison in 2022, later noted in the 2024 acquittal context.
(Comprehensive, official UAPA-specific national mortality counts are not published; the above are well-documented emblematic cases.)
Undertrials overall: India’s prisons remain overwhelmingly undertrial. Govt/NCRB data show ~75.8% of prisoners were undertrials in 2022; independent trackers in 2025 estimate ~76% and note 11,000+ people jailed over five years awaiting trial, pointing to a systemic problem beyond any single law.
UAPA caseload: NCRB shows UAPA cases rose to 1,005 in 2022 (from 814 in 2021, 796 in 2020). The government told Parliament in 2024 that 2022 is the latest published year. Person-wise undertrial counts by statute aren’t regularly released to the public.
Is the judiciary under “influence”? What the record shows
It’s not possible (or responsible) to allege “influence” as a fact without proof. What is documented is a structural tilt created by special statutes (UAPA/NSA/PSA/PMLA) and long delays, which courts themselves have criticized—yet often still uphold detention under Section 43D(5). At the same time, the Supreme Court has reaffirmed liberty-protective doctrines (e.g., Najeeb, Antil) and delivered corrective judgments (e.g., Saibaba acquittal left undisturbed; release of Purkayastha). The tension between these strands—and between high-court skepticism (e.g., Pinjra Tod bails in 2021) and routine trial-court denials—is precisely the democratic accountability question civil society keeps raising.
What must change—now
1. Enforce “speedy trial” as a stand-alone ground for bail (as Najeeb permits) when incarceration crosses 2+ years without trial.
2. Strict time-limits for filing charge-sheets and commencing trials in special-law cases; periodic judicial audits of UAPA dockets.
3. Reasoned bail orders (no boilerplate), as the Supreme Court directed in Antil.
4. Statutory sunset reviews of UAPA bail bars; publish disaggregated data on UAPA undertrials, convictions, and custodial deaths.
5. Accountability of investigating agencies for avoidable adjournments and incomplete investigation that push cases into punishment-by-process territory (a concern the Delhi High Court itself flagged in July 2025).
References:
1. Delhi HC bail denials (Umar/Imam/Tasleem) & parity with Pinjra Tod bails; Pinjra Tod bail date (June 15, 2021). Hindustan TimesThe Times of IndiaRepublic WorldDelhi High Court
2. Court’s concern over 5-year detention & 700 witnesses (July 2025). The Times of India
3. “Bail, not jail” and liberty line: Balchand (1977/78); Najeeb (2021); Satender Kumar Antil (2022). Hindustan TimesSCC OnlineTaxTMI
4. Bhima Koregaon arc & Fr. Stan Swamy (custodial death). National Crime Records Bureau
5. Saibaba acquittal (Mar 5, 2024); SC refusal to stay (Mar 11, 2024); note on Pandu Narote’s death. Amnesty InternationalSCC Online
6. NewsClick/Prabir Purkayastha—SC release due to illegal arrest (May 2024). SSRN
7. Khurram Parvez, Irfan Mehraj (status). Indian KanoonAmnesty International
8. Undertrial share and trend (2022–2025). nhrc.nic.inThe News Minute
9. UAPA cases rising (NCRB 2022; Govt/PIB to Parliament, 2024). ThePrintPress Information Bureau
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