HC notice to Delhi police on Umar Khalid's appeal challenging trial court order refusing bail

The Delhi High Court on Friday issued notice to Delhi Police on an appeal moved by a former student leader of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Umar Khalid, challenging trial court order that refused his bail application in a larger conspiracy case related to North East Delhi violence.

Umar Khalid is an accused in northeast Delhi Violence larger conspiracy case. He was arrested on September 13, 2020, under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

The Division Bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar on Friday sought a response from the investigation agency and listed the matter for April 27, 2022.

The Court also heard the relevant portion of the speech of Umar Khalid and asked, "Did shaheed Bhagat Singh and Mahatma Gandhi ever use this language? We have no problem with permitting free speech but what are you saying? All this is offensive and obnoxious."

"Don't you think these expressions used are offensive to people? It's almost as if we get an impression that only one community fought for India's independence," the court said.

Appearing for Umar Khalid, Advocate Trideep Pais submitted that the speech was given in Amravati and the Trial Court does not even give a finding that the speech was provocative.

The Trial Court had dismissed the bail plea of Umar Khalid on March 24, 2022. The trial Court judge while dismissing the bail plea said that there were reasonable grounds for believing that the accusation against Umar Khalid is prima facie true.

The Court in its order had observed, "It is also important to highlight that in a conspiracy, various continuous acts are committed by different accused persons. One act cannot be read in isolation. At times, if read by itself, a particular act on an activity may appear innocuous, but if it is a part of the chain of events constituting a conspiracy, then all the events must be read together.

The Court had also observed that the accused was part of such WhatsApp groups created for specific objects and his acts or presence throughout the period beginning from the passing of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in December 2019 till the February 2020 riots, has to be read in totality and not piecemeal. He has connectivity with many accused persons.

The Court had rejected the contention of defence counsel that the accused was not present in Delhi during the time of the riots. In this regard, the Court said that in a case of conspiracy, it is not necessary that every accused should be present on the spot.

Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad had opposed the bail. He had argued that the Delhi riots were a large-scale and deep-rooted conspiracy hatched after the passing of the resolution by the Cabinet Committee to present CAB in both houses of Parliaments on 4 December 2019.

He had also argued that in this entire conspiracy, there were various organizations like Pinjra Tod, AAZMI, SIO, SFI, etc. through individuals which participated.

Amit Prasad had argued Umar Khalid participated in the conspiracy. He had also argued that the case under sections is made out against the accused persons. There is sufficient material on record to establish that the accusation against Umar Khalid is prima facie true and hence bail application of the accused may be dismissed.

This case pertains to large-scale violence in Northeast Delhi in which 53 people had lost their lives and hundreds were injured.

( With inputs from ANI )

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