(This piece is being republished in light of the Supreme Court granting bail today to Gulfisha Fatima, Meera Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, Mohd. Saleem Khan, and Shadab Ahmed, while denied bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case. This piece was first published on 4 September, 2025.)
The news says that the bail application filed by Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa Ur Rehman, Athar Khan, Meeran Haider, Abdul Khalid Saifi, Gulfisha Fatima, and Shadab Ahmed has been rejected by the Delhi High Court.
Journalists and lawyers point out that Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa Ur Rehman, Athar Khan, Meeran Haider, Abdul Khalid Saifi, Gulfisha Fatima, and Shadab Ahmed have been in prison for five years. The trial has not even started in five years and yet bail is being denied. They write detailed critiques of the bail order. Terrible, isn’t it. Tragic, even.
You are likely to find the words fundamental rights, Orwell, Constitution of India, Kafkaesque, Orwellian, etc peppered everywhere. Liberty is under threat.
All these people are participating in the charade, reading their lines in the script of a play. Allow me to explain.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wants us to believe that these people are in prison without trial because a crime has been committed. They are guilty of that crime and if they aren’t guilty, law will take its course, the courts are on the job. It’s all normal. Newspapers are reporting it, opinion columnists are writing columns, arguing over procedure. Just another day in a noisy democracy.
This is a lie.