India, Sept. 7 -- Three days after the Delhi High Court refused bail to student activist Sharjeel Imam in the larger conspiracy case linked to the February 2020 Delhi riots, he approached the Supreme Court on Saturday.

Imam, arrested on January 28, 2020, has spent over five years in pre-trial detention. His petition, filed through advocate Fauzia Shakil, argues that his incarceration has been prolonged due to systemic delays in the trial for which he cannot be blamed. The denial of bail, despite over half a decade of custody, amounts to punishing an undertrial, the petition contends, urging the top court to secure his liberty.

On September 2, a bench of justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur (since retired) dismissed the bail pleas of...