Hyderabad, May 18 -- The Supreme Court on Monday, May 18, expressed strong disapproval of a January 2026 judgment that had denied bail to activist Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case, saying the two-judge bench that decided the matter had failed to properly follow a binding three-judge bench ruling on bail in UAPA cases.

A bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan made these observations while granting bail to Syed Iftikhar Andrabi, a Jammu and Kashmir resident held in NIA custody for over six years on charges of funding terrorism through narcotics proceeds.

The court took specific issue with the Gulfisha Fatima judgment, which had denied bail to Khalid and Imam, and the 2024 Gurwinder S...