A Delhi court on Thursday denied bail to former JNU student Umar Khalid in connection with a case alleging a larger conspiracy in the Delhi riots of 2020. Additional sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat pronounced the order after the verdict was deferred several times earlier this month.
The Karkardooma court had reserved the order on March 3. Then the order was to be pronounced on March 14 but got deferred for non-filing of written arguments by the lawyer of Umar Khalid. Then the matter was deferred till March 23 following the submission of additional notes by the Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad who contested that there are multiple chats and other evidence against Umar Khalid.
Umar Khalid faces charges under the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for being one of the “masterminds” of the February 2020 riots, which had left 53 people dead and over 700 injured. 18 people have been named accused in the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case, but only 6 have received bail so far.
Senior Advocate Trideep Pais, appearing for Umar Khalid, had argued that the entire charge sheet filed by Delhi Police in the case is a fabrication and that the case against him is based on the video clips run by two TV channels showing a truncated version of his speech.
The violence had erupted during the protests against the 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.
(With Inputs From Agencies)
