Former JNU student leader Umar Khalid has apprised the Delhi High Court that the Delhi Police was yet to recover any physical evidence to show his involvement in the larger conspiracy leading to riots in NorthEast Delhi in February 2020.
Khalid was arrested on September 13, 2020 by Delhi Police under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Appearing before the Division Bench of Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Shalinder Kaur, Senior Advocate Trideep Pais, representing Khalid, submitted that Delhi Police did not level any allegations against Khalid regarding procurement, receipt, or raising of funds, or his involvement in any terrorist activity related to his role in Delhi riots.
He said that while there were many other persons who allegedly attended the conspiracy meeting, only him and Sharjeel Imam were made an accused in the case.
The counsel further contended that the basis of making this person or that person an accused was not even known.
The said the sole overt act on Khalid’s part was a speech given by the accused in February 2020 at Amravati, Maharashtra, against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Khalid only urged people to protest against CAA. There was no call for violence. The speech invoked Gandhian principles of non-violence and was given 1,000 miles away from the city. There was absolutely no resonance of that in Delhi, he added.
He further argued that the prosecution did not bother to listen to the entire speech but instead relied upon a selective clip. There was no allegation of terrorist act or any violent act on Khalid’s part.
The High Court will continue the hearing of the case on December 12, when Delhi Police is likely to make submissions opposing the bail plea.
In October 2022, a Coordinate Bench headed by Justice Siddharth Mridul rejected the bail petition of Umar Khalid. The former student of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) the moved the Supreme Court but later withdrew his SLP.
In March this year, Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat of Karkardooma Court rejected his bail plea.
FIR 59 of 2020 was registered by the Special Cell of Delhi Police under various offences under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
The accused in the case include Umar Khalid, Tahir Hussain, Khalid Saifi, Sharjeel Imam, Meeran Haider, Shifa-Ur-Rehman, Gulfisha Fatima, Shadab Ahmed, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Saleem Malik, Tasleem Ahmed, Faizan Khan, Athar Khan, Mohd Saleem Khan, Safoora Zargar and Natasha Narwal.
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