New Delhi: More than 100 activists, writers, filmmakers, journalists and academics have written to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant as "concerned citizens of India", urging intervention over the prolonged incarceration of student activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam. Both have been in custody for nearly six years without trial under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, in connection with the 2020 Delhi violence.

"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 said.

The open letter has been signed by prominent figures including Arundhati Roy, Amitav Ghosh, Ramachandra Guha, Prakash Raj, Rana Ayyub and Swara Bhasker. They refer to remarks made by CJI Kant during a recent lecture he delivered in Sweden on the Supreme Court's 2021 judgment in Union of India v. KA Najeeb.

In the Najeeb case, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court held that prolonged incarceration without a reasonable prospect of the trial being completed could justify bail even under stringent laws such as the UAPA. The court held that such detention could infringe an accused person's fundamental right to a speedy trial under Article 21 of the Constitution.

"You were one of the judges on that landmark 3-judge bench ruling," the letter said, referring to  the Najeeb judgment.

Also read: Supreme Court Criticises Denial of Bail to Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam

The signatories said the principles set out in Najeeb should be considered in the cases of Khalid and Imam as well. Nearly six years after their arrests, their trial has not begun, while the prosecution has listed around 900 witnesses. Their bail applications have been rejected by different courts, including by a two-judge Supreme Court bench in January 2026 in the Gulfisha Fatima v. State case.

"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.

The letter also noted that the Gulfisha judgement was subsequently criticised by another Supreme Court bench in its May 18, 2026 judgment in Syed Iftikhar Andrabi v. National Investigation Agency. Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said that the January ruling had erred not only in denying bail but also in preventing the accused from applying for bail for another year.

The judges further held that since the three-judge bench had already laid down the relevant law in Najeeb, judicial discipline required the two-judge bench to follow that precedent.

Also read: Pause the Celebration: Bail Under UAPA Is Still Not a Right

The signatories urged the CJI to intervene, arguing that prolonged pre-trial detention can undermine constitutional protections and render a subsequent acquittal meaningless because the years spent in custody cannot be restored. They also invoked the Supreme Court's repeatedly stated principle that bail is the rule and jail an exception.

"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."

The signatories also include filmmaker Anand Patwardhan, economist Jayati Ghosh, author and peace activist Harsh Mander, political economist and author Parakala Prabhakar, social scientist and historian Partha Chatterjee, feminist historian J. Devika, journalist Pamela Philipose, human rights activist Sunita Visvanath, and filmmaker Tanuja Chandra.

The letter said that continued denial of liberty under stringent laws to dissenters would undermine democratic and constitutional principles.

The full list of all  110 signatories is below:

Arundhati Roy, author
Amitav Ghosh, Padma Shri and Jnanpith Award-winning author; Erasmus Prize winner; Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Prakash Raj, actor, producer and director
Ramachandra Guha, historian and writer
Anand Patwardhan, filmmaker
Manoj Kumar Jha, Member of Parliament and professor, University of Delhi
Raja Ram Singh, Member of Parliament from Karakat, Bihar; CPI(ML) Liberation
Aruna Roy, socio-political and Right to Information activist; Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS)
Yogendra Yadav, national convenor, Bharat Jodo Abhiyaan
Rana Ayyub, journalist and columnist, The Washington Post
Varun Grover, writer and director
Swara Bhasker, award-winning actor, author and activist for constitutional principles and human rights
Rajmohan Gandhi, author, retired professor and former Rajya Sabha MP
Jayati Ghosh, economist and professor
Gurmehar Kaur, author and activist
Harsh Mander, author and peace activist
Parakala Prabhakar, political economist and author
Partha Chatterjee, social scientist and historian
Jignesh Mevani, social activist and MLA from Vadgam constituency, Gujarat
Zoya Hasan, professor emerita, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Meena Kandasamy, writer
Nivedita Menon, retired professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Tanika Sarkar, retired professor of Modern History, Centre for Historical Studies, JNU; visiting professor, Ashoka University
Uma Chakravarti, retired teacher and historian
Nandini Sundar, professor, University of Delhi
Apoorvanand, teacher and academic
Mukul Kesavan, writer
Githa Hariharan, writer
Syeda Hameed, writer and activist
Pratik Sinha, co-founder and editor, Alt News
Neha Dixit, independent journalist
Sushant Singh, actor
Tanuja Chandra, film writer and director
N. Manu Chakravarthy, professor of English, literary and cultural critic, and film critic
Shuddhabrata Sengupta, artist and writer
J. Devika, feminist historian, Kerala
Ayesha Kidwai, professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Farah Naqvi, writer and activist
Saibal Chatterjee, film critic, journalist, writer and festival programmer
Nakul Singh Sawhney, filmmaker
Vinta Nanda, filmmaker, editor of The Daily Eye, and executive director of WIFF Mumbai
Nandini Rao, feminist activist
Pushpendra Singh, filmmaker and alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune
Gitanjali Rao, animation filmmaker
Gazal Dhaliwal, writer
Hussain Haidry, writer
Darab Farooqui, screenwriter
Anjali Monteiro, documentary filmmaker and academic
Chitra Joshi, independent historian
Nadeem Khan, Association for Protection of Civil Rights
Aamir Aziz, poet
Lalita Ramdas, peace, human rights, communal harmony and secular values activist
Sunita Viswanath, human rights activist and co-founder of Hindus for Human Rights
Susan Visvanathan, academic
Radha Kumar, writer
Pamela Philipose, New Delhi-based journalist
Ammu Abraham, women’s rights activist
Madhuri Date, journalist
Ghazala Jamil, assistant professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Aditi Mehta, retired IAS officer
Apurba Kumar Baruah, retired professor, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong; president, Sustha Samaj Bikash Chakra, Guwahati; mentor, Bharat Jodo Abhiyan
Anu Singh, filmmaker and author
Anirban Bhattacharya, researcher and writer
Jayasree Subramanian, academician
Kiran Bhatty, researcher
Radhika Desai, independent feminist researcher and consultant on gender and social development
Mariette Correa, independent researcher
Manorama Sharma, retired professor of History, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong; based in Guwahati, Assam
Maimoona Mollah, women’s rights activist
Manjushree Abhinav, animal rights activist
Shilpa Parthan, researcher and educator
Roshmi Goswami, feminist human rights defender
Seema Azad, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL)
Sagari R. Ramdas, veterinary scientist
Vanita Mukherjee, feminist activist and social advocate for ALIFA, All India Feminist Alliance, and the National Coalition for Women’s Reservation
Sharanya Nayak, solidarity worker with Indigenous peoples’ movements against mining and fortress conservation projects in southern Odisha
Nikhil Dey, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan
Muralidharan Vishwathan, general secretary, National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD)
Joe Athialy, Centre for Financial Accountability
Arundhati Ghosh, independent consultant
Dr Ravi Shukla, technologist, educator and researcher
Johnson Thomas, film critic, journalist and social worker
Ronny Sen, filmmaker
Vikrant Pawar, filmmaker
Sumit Roy, writer and filmmaker
Prateek Vats, writer-director
Sabika Abbas, poet
Nusrat F. Jafri, cinematographer and writer
Ritash, neuroqueer writer and co-founder, RANG Foundation
Varna Sri Raman, development economist
Arunesh Maiyar, LGBTQI activist
Neeladri Bhattacharya, historian and academic
Sabita Lahkar, independent journalist based in Guwahati, Assam
Rajshri, citizen
P.E. Usha, activist from Trivandrum
Mumtaz Beegum TL, citizen
Nikhat Hegde, counsellor
Kalpana, citizen
Kavita Sarin, concerned citizen of India
Pooja, concerned citizen
Sapna, freelancer
Salim Saboowala, social activist
Gourav, concerned about the Constitution
Christian Fernandes, citizen committed to constitutional principles
Vidur Nauriyal, Indian citizen
Vedi Sinha, writer, singer and storyteller
V. Gadgil, retired
Bhanutej N., freelance writer
B.S. Krupakar, writer
Abhilash Durugkar, development professional

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