Delhi riots case: Court to hear Umar Khalid’s bail application today

In an earlier hearing of Umar Khalid’s bail application, Delhi Police told the court that his plea was “meritless”.

A Delhi court will on Monday hear the bail application moved by former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student leader Umar Khalid in connection with the Delhi riots conspiracy case. Khalid was arrested in September of last year under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

Former JNU student Umar Khalid has been granted bail in another case pertaining to the northeast Delhi riots. (Ravi Choudhary/HT PHOTO)

Khalid’s bail plea was originally listed to be heard on August 20 but the date was brought forward to August 18 after an early hearing application was filed on his behalf. However, on August 18, additional sessions judge Amitabh Rawat adjourned the matter till August 23.

In an earlier hearing of Khalid’s bail application, Delhi Police told the court that his bail plea was “meritless”. "The application filed by the applicant/ Umar Khalid has no merit as would be revealed and demonstrated before this Court by reference to the charge-sheet filed before this Court and as such the prosecution does not seek to file a detailed reply to the present application," Delhi Police stated in its reply on August 7.

Khalid has been granted bail in another case pertaining to the northeast Delhi riots. The court while granting him bail noted that he cannot be put in jail for infinity simply on account of the fact that the others involved in the rioting incident in Khajuri Khas have to be identified and arrested.

The first information report (FIR) on the Delhi riots conspiracy case includes stringent charges under Sections 13, 16, 17, 18 of the UAPA, Sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act and Section 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act,1984, and various offences included in the Indian Penal Code, 1860, reported Live Law.

The northeast Delhi riots broke out on February 24, 2020, which left at least 53 dead and 200 injured. Delhi Police have registered more than 750 cases and filed over 250 charge sheets. Besides Khalid, JNU students Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal, Jamia Coordination Committee member Safoora Zargar, Jamia Millia Islamia's Asif Iqbal Tanha, former Aam Aadmi Party councillor Tahir Hussain, and several others, have also been booked under UAPA.

Kalita, Narwhal, and Tanha have been granted bail by the Delhi high court, while Zargar was released on bail on June 23 of last year on humanitarian grounds.