Five years on, Umar still awaits bail, trial

On December 24, 2022, Sahiba Khanam was woken up by the trill of her mobile phone at 7am. On the other side of the line was her son Umar Khalid, minutes after he was released from Delhi's Tihar Jail for the first time in two years.

- Hemani Bhandari

“He just said salaam. I jumped out of bed and told everyone he'd be home in 30 minutes,” Khanam said.

Khalid, a student leader who was arrested in connection with the 2020 Delhi riots, had been granted interim bail for seven days by the Delhi high court for his sister Zainab Fatima’s wedding.

“The moment he walked through the door, almost everyone was in tears,” his mother recalled. “I remember feeding him with my hands.”