In the 2020 Delhi riots case, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, who appeared for Delhi Police, invoked the name of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacker Ajmal Kasab (who was later hanged) to counter bail arguments, againstUmar KhalidandSharjeel Imam, based on prolonged trial delays under theUAPA.
ASG Raju argued that a blanket rule granting bail for long incarceration would be absurd if applied to high-profile terrorists like Kasab.
ASG Raju and Advocate Rajat Nair, appearing for Delhi Police, emphasised that the question of bail should depend on the facts of each case with a direct relation to the gravity of each offense.
"If you take the case of Ajmal Kasab, there are a large number of witnesses. Will you grant him bail, given that he has been in jail for 7 or 8 years? It can’t be done. Therefore, you have to examine the facts of each case. Suppose if terrorist Hafiz Saeed is brought from Pakistan and tried, and he is in jail for 5 years because there are a large number of witnesses (because) you have to collect evidence from abroad, will you release him on bail saying no, no 5 years (has passed)?” Raju asked.
Raju was referring to a recent judgment by a two-judge bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjak Bhuyan criticising the denial of bail to prime accused Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, despite them spending almost five years in jail and the trial not commencing and urging that the original judgment denying bail to the two be referred to a larger Bench following contradictory views by two Benches.
The Bench later directed that the matter be placed before Chief Justice of India Surya Kant for the constitution of a larger Bench.
The Bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and PB Varale was hearing the bail pleas of Tasleem Ahmed and Khalid Saifi, who were granted interim bail.
The Bench led by Justice Nagarathna not only questioned the denial of bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam by another two-judge bench in January 2026, even after they underwent almost 6 years of pre-trial incarceration, but also “foreclosed their right to seek bail for a period of one year”.
“Will the principle that bail is the rule and jail is the exception apply in cases involving serious terror charges if trials are delayed?” ASG Raju asked, citing examples such as the 2008 Mumbai terror attack convict Ajmal Kasab or Lashkar-e-Toiba founder Hafiz Saeed, and asking whether they would have been granted bail under such circumstances.
The Justice Nagarathna Bench of the Supreme Court had said in the KA Najeeb case (2021) that a three-judge Bench of the SC ruled that undue delay in trial and prolonged incarceration function as valid grounds for granting bail. The Bench said the Najeeb judgment held that prolonged incarceration overrides the stringent bail restrictions under the UAPA.
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