Delhi court denies bail to former JNU student Umar Khalid in 2020 riots conspiracy case

The bail plea of former JNU student leader Umar Khalid in the larger conspiracy of Delhi riots case was denied by Delhi's Karkardooma court on Tuesday. Khalid, a defendant in the 2020 Delhi riots UAPA case, requested regular bail in the court on the grounds of delay and parity with other accused persons.

It was his second time requesting bail.He has been detained since September 2020 in connection with a UAPA case. Umar Khalid was accused by the Delhi Police of orchestrating protests at 23 locations in 2020 that were prearranged and resulted in riots.

Khalid appealed to the trial court to request release in February after withdrawing his bail petition from the Supreme Court, citing a change in circumstances and equitable treatment with other accused parties.

In his defence of Umar Khalid, senior advocate Tridip Pais had questioned the Delhi Police's submissions, asking, "Is sharing messages a criminal or terror act?"

He was responding to earlier submissions from the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP), who stated that Khalid was using certain connections with politicians and other people on social media to amplify his story and paint it as part of a conspiracy.

Referencing remarks from several television presenters who were constantly reading charge sheets, Pais contended that Khalid was conveying the "correct narrative" and asserted that a brutal media trial was taking place against Khalid.

According to Pais, there is no evidence of a terror case against Khalid, nor do the police possess any data supporting this claim. He drew attention to inconsistencies in the prosecution witnesses' testimony.

Pais added that the high court has given bail to several accused individuals with responsibilities who had similar charges as Khalid, including Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, and Asif Iqbal Tanha.

(With inputs from agencies)