The Supreme Court on Monday underscored that “bail is the rule and jail is the exception” is a constitutional principle and questioned its earlier judgment denying bail to activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case. A bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan made the observations while granting bail to Jammu and Kashmir resident Syed Iftikhar Andrabi in a narco-terror case investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The court expressed “serious reservations” over the reasoning adopted in the January 5 order that denied bail to Khalid and Imam and deferred their right to seek bail for one year. The bench said the earlier judgment did not properly apply the precedent set in the K.A. Najeeb case, which recognises prolonged delay in trial as a valid ground for granting bail under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), even overriding statutory restrictions