Court Denies Bail to Umar Khalid in Delhi Riots, UAPA
Writes: Aashish Vashistha
March 25, 2022 (New Delhi): Delhi High Court rejects the bail plea of former JNU student and activist Umar Khalid in connection with a case alleging a larger conspiracy in the Northeast Delhi violence 2020. He has been behind bars since September 2020 and is currently imprisoned at Delhi’s Tihar jail. The student leader faces IPC sections pertaining to urge riots, promoting religious enmity, giving inciting speeches for illegally “pre – planning” the communal riot incidents of February 2020.
On Thursday, Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat said there was “no merit and substance” in Mr Khalid’s plea to be granted bail. The riots in Delhi occurred amid massive months-long protests against a contentious citizenship law, CAA and NRC. The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) grants citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants from three neighbouring Muslim-majority countries – Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
FYI, critics of the ruling party always says that it is anti-muslim and runs counter to India’s secular values. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government insists that it gives amnesty to persecuted minorities. Khalid and several others have been arrested under the anti-terror law UAPA in the case for being the “masterminds” of the February 2020 riots, which had left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.
Besides Khalid, other 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.
Written by:Manshi Singh