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Delhi Police calls Umar Khalid's bail plea in riots case 'meritless'
The court then adjourned the hearing to August 7 for detailed arguments on a request from Khalid’s lawyer.
The Delhi Police said on Tuesday there was no merit in the bail application of student leader Umar Khalid who was arrested under stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in the northeast Delhi riots case.
It stated, "The application filled 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."
Additional sessions judge Amitabh Rawat then adjourned the hearing to August 7 for detailed arguments on a request from Khalid’s lawyer, Trideep Pais, who received the prosecution’s reply only this morning, according to a report in The Indian Express.
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Khalid was arrested on September 13, 2020, in connection with communal clashes that had broken out in northeast Delhi in February 2020, after violence between Citizenship (Amendment) Act supporters and its protesters spiraled out of control leaving at least 53 people dead and over 700 injured.
On April 16, Khalid was granted bail in another related case (over violence in the Khajuri Khas area), but has been languishing in Tihar Jail over conspiracy charges under UAPA. The provisions of the anti-terror law have been slapped against several other student leaders and activists in the case.
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Police have submitted that the present case pertains to a larger conspiracy that was registered on March 6, 2020. Besides Khalid, other students from Jawaharlal Nehru University, including Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, Jamia Millia Islamia's Asif Iqbal Tanha, former Aam Aadmi Party councillor Tahir Hussain, and several others, have also been booked under the UAPA.
The Delhi high court, in a recent judgement has granted bail to Tanha, Kalita and Narwal Narwal in the same case.
More than 750 cases were registered over the northeast Delhi violence, while over 250 chargesheets have, so far, been filed in related cases.
(With inputs from agencies)
