India, Jan. 5 -- The Supreme Court's decision to grant bail to five people accused in the 2020 Delhi riots case but refuse relief to student activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam creates a new touchstone to evaluate bail applications under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), but may have further narrowed the window for liberty in what is already a draconian law.

One, by drawing a distinction between the seven people seeking bail in the same case, the court avoided a collective approach. Instead, it found that Khalid and Imam were "qualitatively on a different footing" by observing that the material placed on record prima facie indicated their "central and formative roles" in the planning and strategic direction of ...