A Delhi court on Tuesday rejected the bail petition of activist and former Jawaharlal Nehru University student Umar Khalid in a case related to a conspiracy to incite communal riots in the national capital in 2020, Bar and Bench reported.

Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai of the Karkardooma Courts rejected the plea. The detailed order has not been made public yet.

Khalid had approached the Delhi court after withdrawing his bail plea from the Supreme Court on February 24, arguing that the circumstances of his cases had changed. His bail petition before the top court had been adjourned 14 times.

The activist has been charged with criminal conspiracy, rioting and unlawful assembly, among other offences under the Indian Penal Code as well as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, India’s anti-terrorism law.

The case pertains to clashes in North East Delhi from February 23 to February 26, 2020, between supporters of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act and those opposing it, which left 53 persons dead and hundreds injured. Most of those killed were Muslims.

The Delhi Police have claimed that the violence was part of a larger conspiracy to defame Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. The police alleged last month that Khalid had amplified a false narrative in his favour using social media and through his connections with prominent individuals.

The activist, arrested by the Delhi Police on September 13, 2020, has argued that he had no role in the violence nor any “conspiratorial connect” with other persons accused in the case.

Khalid has also filed a petition before the Supreme Court challenging the validity of several provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

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