The Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned hearing on the bail plea filed by student activist Umar Khalid after Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra recused himself from hearing the matter.

“This will come before some other bench. There is some difficulty on part of my brother (Justice P.K. Mishra),” told a bench headed by Justice A.S. Bopanna to the parties. 

The court has directed listing of the plea before a different bench on August 17. 

Khalid was arrested and charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in connection with the alleged larger conspiracy case behind the 2020 Delhi riots.

Khalid has approached the top court against denial of bail by the Delhi High court.

A bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar of high court has rejected Khalid’s appeal seeking regular bail on October 18 last year. He had challenged the trial court order which had denied him bail in connection with the UAPA case.

His alleged offensive speeches delivered at Amaravati during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens were the basis of allegations against him in the riots case.

JNU scholars and activists Khalid, and Sharjeel Imam are among the nearly a dozen people involved in the alleged larger conspiracy case linked with the Delhi riots 2020, as per the Delhi Police. 

The riots broke out in the national capital in February 2020 as clashes between the anti-CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) and pro-CAA protesters took a violent turn, in which more than 50 people lost their lives and over 700 were injured.

(The story has been published via a syndicated feed with a modified headline.)