The Supreme Court, which is hearing the bail pleas of anti-CAA protesters including Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, on Thursday heard the Delhi Police describe the activists as anti-nationals and terrorists in the garb of intellectuals who, according to the prosecution, were more dangerous than ground-level operatives, as it advanced an argument that there was a “trend” of doctors and engineers engaging in anti-national activities, suggesting that the educated were becoming a potential threat to the nation.
The police, represented by Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, opposed the bail petitions by reiterating that intellectuals allegedly involved in the 2020 Delhi violence “wider conspiracy” case posed a heightened risk, and they claimed that their influence, networks and public standing made them capable of causing greater societal disruption than those working directly on the ground.
The prosecution presented its submissions before a Bench of Justices Arvind Kumar and N.V. Anjaria, and it relied on several video clips of speeches delivered by Sharjeel Imam as evidence, arguing that his calls for chakka jams, for cutting the “Chicken’s Neck” connecting the Northeast to the rest of India, and for paralysing the government formed part of the overarching conspiracy.
It maintained that the accused sought to engineer violence through coordinated messaging across WhatsApp groups such as the Delhi Protest Support Group and the Jamia Awareness Campaign Team, and it alleged that discussions in these groups reflected an intention to “overthrow the Government” and to bring about a “regime change”, timed deliberately to coincide with the visit of then U.S. President Donald Trump.
Imam’s counsel, Senior Advocate Siddharth Dave, countered that the prosecution continued to rely on selectively edited excerpts of speeches while withholding their full context, and the defence argued that the truncated clips were being used to create prejudice. Justice Kumar noted that whether the excerpts were “micro” or “macro”, they nonetheless formed part of the chargesheet and therefore remained subject to judicial scrutiny.
The prosecution further relied on statements from protected witnesses as it sought to resist bail for all petitioners, and it repeated its characterisation of the accused as anti-nationals who allegedly enjoyed sympathy in sections of international media, with the ASG expressing particular ire towards The New York Times for publishing reports whenever bail hearings were listed.
Although only Sharjeel Imam is an engineer among the current petitioners, the prosecution’s remarks about doctors and engineers appeared to allude to recent arrests in the Red Fort blast case, and it insisted that professionals were increasingly participating in activities it viewed as destabilising.
The activists, including Imam, Khalid, Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and others, have spent over 2,000 days in custody under the UAPA, and their prolonged incarceration has drawn widespread criticism from civil society groups, which argue that the absence of trial or bail undermines democratic principles. The hearings on the bail pleas are expected to continue over the coming weeks as the court examines both the evidentiary record and the competing submissions.