The Delhi High Court on Friday made scathing observations for former JNU students leader Umar Khalid in the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case and fixed the matter for further hearing on 27 April. This was after Khalid moved the high court challenging the trial court’s order refusing him bail in the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case.
According to Livelaw, a division bench comprising Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar termed one of Khalid’s speeches ‘obnoxious’ and ‘inciteful.’
Senior Advocate Trideep Pais, who was appearing for Khalid, told the court that his client was not even ‘present in Delhi when the crimes that he is accused of are supposed to have taken place.’ “The incidents, violence in Delhi, is subject matter of almost 751 FIRs.,” Livelaw quoted Pais as saying.
When Justice Mridul asked what crimes Khalid had been accused of, Pais replied, “Silent whisper. Not present, nothing recovered, no overt act ascribed to me, no money recovered. One speech…after the registration of FIR, police go looking, a TV channel said that we got the video from a politician.”
Reacting to one of Khalid’s speeches, the court said, “All this is offensive and obnoxious. Don’t you think these expressions used are offensive to people? These are offensive per se. It’s almost as if we get an impression that only one community fought for India’s independence.”
Court: All this is offensive and obnoxious. Don't you think these expressions used are offensive to people? These are offensive per se. It's almost as if we get an impression that only one community fought for India's independence. #DelhiHighCourt #UmarKhalid #UAPA #DelhiRiots
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) April 22, 2022
The trial court in its order had concluded that Khalid connected with many accused and was present in WhatsApp groups created for specific objects throughout riots.
Delhi saw one of the worst anti-Muslim pogroms in the recent times. More than 50 people, mostly Muslims, were killed just before the assembly elections of 2020.
Khalid was arrested by the Delhi Police in September 2020 under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for his alleged role in the northeast Delhi riots.