‘Being in WhatsApp groups doesn’t imply criminality’: Umar Khalid tells Delhi HC

Activist Umar Khalid's lawyer told the Delhi high court on Thursday that merely being part of WhatsApp groups could not be used to assign criminality to him and accused the police of equating protests and meetings with terrorism while arguing for bail in a Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) case linked to the February 2020 riots.

Senior advocate Trideep Pais, appearing for Khalid, presented his arguments before a bench comprising Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur, news agency PTI reported. Bail pleas of other co-accused, including Sharjeel Imam, are still pending in the high court, and the case is scheduled for the next hearing on March 4.

Opposing the prosecution’s claim that Khalid created "communal" WhatsApp groups to mobilise and instigate students for a "disruptive" chakka jam (blockades), Pais said that his client was not even an active participant in those groups.

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“I have been added to the groups. I have not posted a single message. I am not even chatting. I have been roped in by somebody. Merely being in a group is not an indicator of any criminal wrong,” Pais argued in response to the police’s allegations.

He further contended that “(Offences under) UAPA are not made out against me. They are equating protest and attending a meeting to terror.” Referring to co-accused Devangana Kalita and others, Pais pointed out that despite facing more serious allegations, they were granted bail.

He added that nothing incriminating was recovered from Khalid, adding that his speeches contained "nothing criminal" and that witness statements against him were based on hearsay.

Highlighting Khalid's prolonged incarceration, Pais aid that he had spent 4.5 years in jail and argued that the delay in trial justified his release on bail.

"(There are) 800 witnesses and (case pending since) five years. Charges are yet to be framed. We can quibble over who is at fault ... but (the trial court record shows) that while the others did not wish to go on with their arguments on charge, I wanted to. The prosecution itself moved the high court and obtained a stay for six months stating that they were unwilling to give hard copies of documents," he said.

When was Umar Khalid arrested?

Umar Khalid was arrested by Delhi Police in September 2020 and challenged a trial court’s decision to deny him bail for the second time. He is among several people booked in connection with the February 2020 riots, which resulted in 53 deaths and left over 700 injured.

The violence broke out amid protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Umar Khalid's lawyer had earlier questioned the “basis” on which he was named an accused in the UAPA case, arguing that no criminality was attributed to others who allegedly attended the so-called conspiratorial meetings.

Opposing the bail plea, Delhi Police argued that speeches by Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, and others instilled fear, citing their common references to CAA-NRC, the Babri mosque, triple talaq, and Kashmir.

The police further claimed that statements from several protected witnesses showed that the accused were not "innocent bystanders" merely setting up protest sites but had used WhatsApp groups to orchestrate violence, leading to the registration of 751 FIRs related to the riots.

(With PTI inputs)