Umar Khalid’s Five Years of Incarceration: ‘Do I Even Know the World Any More?’
Anant Gupta | 16 February 2026 | Scroll.in
Umar Khalid was uncharacteristically laconic in his response to questions about his life in prison. It has been more than five years since the former student-activist from the Jawaharlal Nehru University was arrested and imprisoned for his alleged involvement in the 2020 Delhi riots. The trial is yet to begin. In January, the Supreme Court denied Khalid bail. Days later, Scroll interviewed him through one of his JNU friends who regularly visits him in Tihar Jail.
Khalid, 38, said his first couple of years “away from social media” in Tihar were “good”. Over time, the detachment with which he approached the experience gave way to “restlessness”. And as his bail pleas snailed through the corridors of Indian courts, that restive feeling “metamorphosed to resignation”…