Court Rejected Bail To Former JNU Student Activist Umar Khalid In Delhi Riots Case

Umar has been behind bars since September 2020

On Thursday, Delhi's Karkardooma Court rejected bail to former JNU student activist Umar Khalid in a "larger conspiracy" case relating to the 2020 Northeast Delhi violence. He was arrested on 14 September 2020 and is currently imprisoned at Delhi's Tihar jail.

Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat had reserved the order on March 3 after hearing arguments from the counsel appearing for Khalid and the prosecution.

During the arguments, the accused told the court that the prosecution lacked the evidence to prove its case against him.

Umar Khalid faces charges under the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for being the "mastermind" of the February 2020 riots, which had left 53 people dead and more than 700 injured.

18 people have been named accused in the Delhi riots case, till now only 6 have received bail.

Senior Advocate Trideep Pais, appearing for Umar Khalid, had argued that the entire charge sheet filed by Delhi Police in the case is fabricated and that the case against him is based on the video clips run by two TV channels showing edited versions of his speech.

The student leader faces IPC sections pertaining to inciting riots, promoting religious enmity, giving provocative speeches for allegedly "pre-planning" the communal riot incidents of February 2020.

The prosecution had argued that Umar Khalid was a "veteran of sedition" and the "silent whisper behind the first phase of the riots that took place in 2019".

The student leader's lawyer had argued that these were baseless allegations made without any factual basis.

The violence had erupted during the protests against the citizenship law Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens.

Besides Umar Khalid, activist Khalid Saifi, JNU students Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and several others have also been booked under the stringent law in the case.