Special Court Denies Bail to Ex-JNU Student Umar Khalid in 2020 Delhi Riots Case

A special court in New Delhi has rejected Umar Khalid's second bail plea in connection with the 2020 northeast Delhi communal riots. The court stated the prior dismissal had achieved finality, and no new analysis would alter the outcome. Khalid faces charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

A special court here on Tuesday rejected the bail plea of former JNU student Umar Khalid who is an accused in the larger conspiracy case linked to the 2020 northeast Delhi communal riots, saying its previous order dismissing his first application had attained finality.

This was Khalid's second regular bail plea. He has been booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

Dismissing the plea, Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai said, ''When the Delhi High Court has already dismissed the criminal appeal of the applicant (Khalid) vide order dated October 18, 2022, and thereafter, the applicant approached the Supreme Court and withdrew his petition, the order of this court as passed on March 24, 2022, has attained finality and now, in no stretch of imagination this court can make analysis of the facts of the case as desired by the applicant and consider the relief as prayed by him.'' Taking note of the submissions of Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad, the court said there was ''no delay in framing of charge and commencement of the trial by the Delhi Police''.

''Thus when the delay in the proceedings is not on the part of the prosecution and in fact is on the part of the accused persons, the applicant cannot take benefit of the same,'' it said.

The court also rejected the argument of Khalid's counsel that the Supreme Court's view about ''prima facie evidence'' against an accused had changed because of the grant of bail to activist Vernon Gonsalves in July 2023 and to academic-activist Shoma Kanti Sen on April 5 this year in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case.

''As according to the Vernon's case as relied upon by counsel for the applicant, while considering bail, no deep analysis of the facts of a case can be done and only surface analysis of the probative value of evidence has to be done and as such the high court has in fact... (done a) complete surface analysis of probative value of the evidence while considering the prayer of the applicant for grant of bail and after doing so it was concluded that prima facie case is made out against the applicant,'' the court said.

While arguing against Khalid's bail, SPP Prasad had claimed that his WhatsApp chat had revealed that he was in the habit of creating social media narratives to influence bail hearings.

Rebutting the argument, Khalid's lawyer had asked the court whether sharing WhatsApp messages was a criminal or terror act.

Twenty people including activists Sharjeel Imam and Khalid Saifi and former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain have been booked for their alleged involvement in the larger conspiracy to incite the riots, which left 53 people dead and over 700 injured.

The violence had erupted during the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The case is being investigated by the Delhi Police Special Cell.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)