New Delhi: In an open letter to the Chief Justice of India, Surya Kant, several concerned citizens of India, including authors, journalists, actors, and academics, expressed their concern for the “life and liberty of those against whom special laws like the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act has been unjustly invoked.”
The letter further mentioned the CJI’s recent reference to 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.”
The authors added that the judgment clearly underlined that a person cannot be detained for a prolonged period without a trial.
“It held that under such conditions, the stringent bail provisions of laws such as UAPA will melt down,” the letter read, adding that the CJI was one of the three judges who passed that very order.
Highlighting this, the authors urged CJI Kant to consider 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.
“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 went on to say that, while in the KA Najeeb case the matter was referred to a larger bench to address broader questions involved, such as liberty and national security, Imam and Khalid remain incarcerated. The letter also notes how the prosecution has arraigned around 900 witnesses, 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 ended.
Arundhati Roy, Amitav Ghosh, Ramachandra Guha, Prakash Raj, Rana Ayyub, Manoj Kumar Jha, and Swara Bhasker are among the many undersigned.
Anti-national and separatists mind can’t claim freedom as compared to gentleman citizens.
First Arundhati Roy has to be arrested for supporting anti-nationals