Former JNU student leader, Umar Khalid, has tested positive for COVID-19 inside Delhi’s Tihar Jail, reported Livelaw. He’s been languishing in Tihar Jail since October when he was arrested by the Delhi Police in the Delhi riots that killed more than 50 people in February last year.
Umar’s RT-PCR Test report came on Saturday, revealing that he had tested positive for COVID-19. He is believed to have been isolated within the jail premises.
Umar was granted bail by a Delhi court earlier this month, but he is yet to get relief in the sedition case slapped by the Delhi Police against him.
Khalid was arrested by the Delhi Police in September last year under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for his alleged role in the northeast Delhi riots.
Khalid has always denied his involvement in the last year’s anti-Muslim pogrom. His lawyers argued in the court that the former JNU student leader had been falsely implicated in the matter by the investigating agency on account of ‘political vendetta to muzzle the dissent.’