Cops yet to find evidence showing my complicity in Delhi riots: Umar Khalid to HC

Former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student leader Umar Khalid on Friday told the Delhi high court that the Delhi Police has yet to recover any physical evidence showing his complicity in connection with the February 2020 northeast Delhi riots.

Khalid has been in custody since September 2020 and faces charges under provisions of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or UAPA in connection with the riots that erupted following protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Seeking bail in the case, Khalid, represented by senior advocate Trideep Pias, submitted before a bench of justices Navin Chawla and Shailnder Kaur that Delhi Police had not levelled any allegations against him regarding procurement, receipt, or raising of funds, or his involvement in any terrorist activity related to his role in the larger conspiracy related to the riots.

Pias submitted that the sole overt act on his client’s part was a speech in February 2020 at Amravati, Maharashtra -- but that the same did not call for any “violence” and was given “1,000 miles away from the city”.

He further argued that the prosecution did not bother to listen to the entire speech but instead relied upon a selective clip “that suited some kind of an outrage a politician wanted to market”.

“The only material against me is regarding a speech delivered in Maharashtra… There is no reaction by the crowd. It is a speech invoking Gandhian principles of non-violence and saying that we should protest against this law [CAA]. Absolutely no resonance of that in Delhi,” Pias said.

“There is no mention of me in the FIRs [of 2020] violence. No physical evidence retrieved from me or anyone else to show my complicity in any violence. No allegation of procurement, receipt or raising of funds. No allegation of terrorist act or any violent act on my part,” he added.

The court will continue the hearing of the case on December 12, when Delhi Police is likely to make submissions opposing the bail plea.

Khalid was appealing against a city court’s May 28 order rejecting his second bail plea. The former student leader’s first bail plea was rejected by the Karkardooma court in March 2022, which was affirmed by the Delhi high court in October 2022. Khalid then petitioned the Supreme Court in April 2023, but on February 14 this year, withdrew his petition, even as his legal team said that he would rather try his luck before the trial court.

On Friday, Pias urged the court to grant bail to Khalid contending that he had already undergone more than four years of custody and deserved bail on parity with other co-accused, including Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and Asif Iqbal Tanha. The senior counsel further pressed for bail, saying that though a lot of people, including activist Yogendra Yadav, were a part of the protests, police failed to make them an accused, and that the reason for making Khalid an accused was not known.

Besides Khalid, Jamia student and RJD youth wing leader Meeran Haider also urged the court to grant him bail in the same case, having undergone more than four years in custody.