Countering the Delhi Police’s charge that he was involved in a conspiracy behind the 2020 Delhi riots, Umar Khalid on Friday told the Supreme Court that the claim was surprising given that he is named in only one of the 751 FIRs related to the violence.“If it’s a conspiracy, it’s a bit surprising, no… if I am responsible for the riots,” Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Khalid, told a bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria. He said Khalid was not in Delhi on the days when the riots took place. Fifty-three people were killed in the riots. The top court is hearing appeals by Khalid, Gulfisha Fatima, Sharjeel Imam and six others challenging the September 2, 2025, Delhi High Court order denying them bail. The petitioners have been behind bars for more than five years.The hearing in the case will resume on November 3.On Thursday, police had alleged before the court that the riots were a “criminal conspiracy” that aimed to effect “regime change”. Police also alleged that the accused were solely responsible for the delay in the trial in the case.On Friday, Sibal highlighted how the hearing could not proceed before the trial court due to adjournments sought by the prosecution and other reasons. He said that on 55 dates, the presiding officer was on leave “for various reasons including medical ground and attending judicial training programmes.”The senior counsel said there were “no recoveries, weapons, arms, ammunition, or any other incriminating material from the petitioner or at his instance”.“No physical evidence has been retrieved from the petitioner which connects him to any violence. Not a single witness has given any statement that connects the petitioner to any actual incident of violence… in north-east Delhi,” he said.He said that in the FIR lodged in connection with the Khajuri Khas violence, Khalid was discharged on December 3, 2022. Sibal said the only overt act alleged against Khalid was a speech in Amravati, Maharashtra on February 17, 2020. “A bare perusal of the speech, which invokes Gandhian principles of non-violence and makes reference to the Constitution, makes it unequivocally clear that the same cannot be considered provocative by any stretch of imagination.”Story continues below this adSenior Advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Fatima, said she had spent over five and a half years in jail and is the only woman to be still in custody in the case.“I am a just out of college MBA student… Allegations are we are part of Pinjira Tod group of female students and WhatsApp group warriors and organised protests in Seelampur etc, and organised ‘secret meetings’. The meeting was in open daylight. I don’t know what’s secret about that,” he submitted.Singhvi said Fatima was not a Pinjra Tod member, and even if she was, two of the feminist group’s members — Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita — had already got bail.“What did I do which makes out an offence… no allegation, photograph, anything about violence… I attended the so-called meeting in Seelampur? So what? Did I commit an act of violence? Did I get up and say you throw a bomb?” the Senior Advocate asked.Story continues below this ad“Next allegation is a conspiratorial meeting at Chand Bagh — not a single incriminating word or act associated with me,” he added.Singhvi also denied that Fatima had any connection to former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain. “There is an allegation of taking money from Tahir Hussain is terror funding… How much money, when and how given, by Tahir to me, nothing is stated… I have no connection with Tahir Hussain. He may have given money to so many people… I have not received…”On the allegation that Fatima’s creation of a WhatsApp group showed her involvement, Singhvi said the group was only meant for lobbying and that the court should look into whether she incited violence in in any manner.Senior Advocate Siddharth Dave, who appeared for Imam, argued that out of the five years behind bars, three years were lost because the investigation was incomplete. “The prosecution took three years entirely to investigate this matter… So there was no scope for the trial to proceed in those three years because the prosecution was saying that we are still investigating the case,” he said. The other accused persons in the case are Meeran Haider, Athar Khan, Abdul Khalid Saifi, Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa-ur-Rehman and Shadab Ahmed. Narwal, Kalita and another accused, Asif Iqbal Tanha, were granted bail by the Delhi High Court in June 2021. A fourth accused person, former Congress councillor Ishrat Jahan, was granted bail in March 2022.