Arundhati, Amitav Ghosh urge CJI to uphold liberty in Umar Khalid & Sharjeel case
Authors, actors, academics write open letter citing six years in custody without trial
New Delhi : In an open letter to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, several concerned citizens of India including authors, journalists, actors and academics have expressed concern over the “life and liberty of those against whom special laws like the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act has been unjustly invoked.”
According to Kashmir Media Service, the letter highlights the case of Sharjeel Imam and Umar Khalid, who have been languishing in custody for six years without trial following the Delhi riots in 2020. The signatories referenced the CJI’s recent mention of the KA Najeeb case (2021) in a lecture, where he said “the SC retains the power to grant bail where prolonged incarceration has become so excessive as to infringe upon the accused’s fundamental right to a speedy trial under Article 21 of the Constitution.”
“It held that under such conditions, the stringent bail provisions of draconian laws such as UAPA will melt down,” the letter read, adding that CJI Kant was one of the three judges who passed that very order. The judgment had underlined that a person cannot be detained for a prolonged period without a trial.
The authors noted that while in KA Najeeb the matter was referred to a larger bench to address broader questions of liberty and national security, Imam and Khalid remain incarcerated. “Their trial hasn’t even begun till date. But despite that, their bail applications have been repeatedly rejected by different courts, including a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court in January 2026,” the letter states. It further pointed out that the prosecution has arraigned around 900 witnesses in the Delhi riots conspiracy case, whereas in the Najeeb case there were only 276.
“We urge your intervention to reverse this travesty of justice unfolding before our eyes,” the authors wrote, arguing that such judicial indifference will hollow out “constitutional principles of fair trial as well as the principle that bail is the rule, and jail an exception, that has been underlined repeatedly by the SC.”
“It is dissent that breathes democracy into a republic. As long as such laws continue to deny liberty and justice of those who practice dissent, we will only be doing disservice to the principles of democracy,” the letter concluded. Among those who signed the letter are Arundhati Roy, Amitav Ghosh, Ramachandra Guha, Prakash Raj, Rana Ayyub, Manoj Kumar Jha, and Swara Bhasker.
