Umar Khalid’s role in riots can’t be isolated: Police

The police submission was filed in a challenge by Khalid to a March 24 order in which a trial court denied him bail.

The Delhi Police on Tuesday told the Delhi high court that looking at the role of Umar Khalid in isolation in the conspiracy for the 2020 north-east Delhi riots would be impermissible in law while opposing the bail plea moved by the student activist.

Umar Khalid. (HT PHOTO)

The police submission was filed in a challenge by Khalid to a March 24 order in which a trial court denied him bail.

“The appellant (Khalid), before the trial court raised ipse dixit (a dogmatic and unproven statement) arguments seeking to conduct a mini trial at the stage of deciding the bail application and to view the appellant’s role in isolation in the case of conspiracy which is impermissible in law,” the police said in its reply.

The police said that the trial court has rightly dismissed the bail application in a well-reasoned order dealing with each and every speculative arguments raised by Khalid’s counsel.

On March 24, the trial court denied Khalid’s bail plea saying that the accusations against him were “prima facie true”.

The matter will now be heard on Wednesday.

Khalid, along with several others, has been booked under the anti-terror law, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA, in the case for being the alleged “mastermind” of the February 2020 riots which left 53 people dead and over 400 injured. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing.