Delhi High Court judge Amit Sharma on Monday recused himself from hearing the bail plea filed by activist Umar Khalid in the Delhi riots case, Bar and Bench reported.

The division bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Amit Sharma were scheduled to hear the plea.

Sharma had earlier recused himself from hearing the bail pleas of activist Sharjeel Imam and Jamia Millia Islamia student Meeran Haider, the other co-accused in the Delhi riots case.

Khalid, arrested by the Delhi Police on September 13, 2020, 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.

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. The clashes left 53 persons dead and hundreds injured. Most of those killed were Muslims.

The Delhi Police has claimed that the violence was part of a larger conspiracy to defame the Union government. The police alleged in April that Khalid had amplified a false narrative in his favour using social media and through his connections with prominent individuals.

Khalid approached the High Court after a trial court rejected his bail plea on May 28.

He had approached the trial 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.

Khalid had moved the Supreme Court after his bail applications were rejected by the High Court in October 2022. Before that, he was denied bail by the trial court in March 2022.

In August 2023, Supreme Court judge PK Mishra recused himself from hearing Khalid’s plea.

Also read: The price that Umar Khalid is paying for dissenting in Modi’s India